- The reading makes a few distinctions between owners and employees. One of those distinctions is that owners have the capital to have employees in the first place. The employees work for wages and salaries while the owners which are normally capitalist make a profit in surplus value from the labor created by the employees.
2. How I understand the quote given by Adam smith on page 28 is that labor ultimately is what gives whatever is produced by said labor it’s worth and value in the first place. So, in some ways labor is superior to capital because without the labor you would not have the product to make profits and all the surplus value. Also, it does not matter how much capital you have, having capital does not make the product you wish to sell. Having a million dollars in the bank can’t build you a toothpick it’s the labor that is put behind. I agree wholeheartedly
3. I disagree with the notion that class is not an identity. We are defined daily by our social class and have less access to a pleather of resources because of it. People of higher socioeconomic class have been getting away with things people in lower classes would not even dream of committing. Laws and rules only apply to some unfortunately. If you have the wealth and status, you may be able to commit a few felonies and not be incarcerated and maybe I don’t know, run for office and be the leader of the free world. All the while some people are convicted felons and can’t even vote in some states or get a half decent paying job.
4. I understand that “class structures are built around a close form of dependency” but understanding that employees need wages and salaries and owners need to make a profit to keep on being rich. The construction company that got the big contract from the city to build these streets and roads we occupy every day, need the construction workers to build those streets and roads so they can secure profit. All the while the construction workers are dependent on the employer securing that contract so they can secure their wages to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads.
