In the sub-title’s passage of “who owns America”, The top 1% being 40-50% of the nation’s wealth has more than the combined wealth of 90% of the bottom family’s wealth. which is surprising because they base their wealth off of investment funds, business assets, stocks, etc., but a lot of them only have investments under 2k. The other families (Bottom 90%) have almost no assets which makes you think, the top 1%gets their wealth passed down by generations, which is why it’s so hard for the poor to become wealthy or gain a lumpsum of wealth. This dynamic is still an issue in our current economic status with social class being an example of wealth inequality, we put individuals in categories determining their social classes based off their income.

Capitalists maintain and increase their wealth by using the M-C-M cycle. M-C-M stands for money/ Commodities/ More money. the way capitalist use the cycle isn’t as straight forward. The M stands for the amount of money a capitalist starts out with. The C stands for commodities, capitalist use the money yo produce a product that has value in the market. The last M stands for more money, after a capitalist produces a product or service, they resell it for more money than the original amount they spent. More money includes both the original amount they started out with and the surplus value that was made during the production.

1. A means of production is the non-human resources a human use in order to make a product. For example, a tripos is a means of production in order to make a video, with the video being the product. There are several different types of labor, the most common type being physical labor, labor is the efforts in which a person gives that is used in the production of a good, or a service.
2. Value refers to the worth of a product or service. Value also refers to the type of labor being put into a productor service. Value is how much someone is willing to pay for a product based on the worth of the said product.
3. The relationship between labor and value, labor is necessary in order to make a product valuable. The time and effort enforced into a product will either lower or increase the value of the product. For example, A value of a product would change depending on if you worked on if you worked on a product for 5 minutes, versuse if you worked on a product for 5 hours.
4. The difference between labor and labor power is that labor is the effort you put into a product, labor is the actual activeness you impose onto something. Labor power is your ability to execute labor. For example, your sleep schedule will either increase or decrease your labor power.
5. Surplus value is the amount you would pay a worker versus the amount it took the manufacture a product. Capitalist will take away from a worker’s labor by paying them less than the value of the good they produced.

1. The distinction between owners and employees are wages and support. Owners make profit from “behind the scenes”, they use their employees to do the work for them while giving workers a quarter of their salary, this is how owners make money and remain in business. Employees are reliant on the owners of corporation. Without employee’s labor there would be no profit, vice versa, without owners there would be no income. Employees have no say over an owner’s strategy, leaving them with whatever directions an owner/ manager may give them, owners control strategy, but give litttle to no labor.
2. I believe what Adam smith stated was, the labor of employees doesn’t reflect on the product, the real mone is how much effort and skill a laborer puts within a product. The true value doesn’t reflect on labor, but instead reflects on the demand of a product, as well as market conditions.
3. While we shouldn’t consider class an identity, it is. Reason being those political, economic and social factors all influence class, by which we identify by those things every day. We get put in categories that identify us within itself. While not all the time, most of the time we get identified by occupation, education, where we reside, and even ethnicity. Class structure determines our power in society. No corporation? less profit, lower class. Capitalist? inflated profit, while enduring a higher social status.
4. Class structures are based off a close form of dependency. Dependency ensures some form of profit within a capitalist or laborer. For example, capitalist depend on workers to reoccurring profit, and workers depend on owners? corporations for a steady income.

1. The reading 4.2 is down but based on what I’ve seen in the class video for reading 4.2, 4.1 and 4.2 is similar in the sense that social classes determine a person’s place in society. A lot of people pass judgement on a particular person depending on their status of income. The difference between the 2 readings, 4.1 and 4.2, is that 4.1 reading is basing the social class off of people’s education, as well as ethnicity. In one of the sections of the reading it states that someone who only obtained a high school diploma has a higher chance of being a low-working class individual rather than someone who attended, or graduated from college, in reading 4.2, It seems that they’re basing social status off of average income within a city, or a specific area within a city. For, example someone who lives by the 2 train (Flatbush Ave) would be a working class, due to the fact Flatbush hold a rate of predominantly black Americans and Caribbean people.
2. According to, Brooklyn borough, Kings County, New York – Census Bureau Profile, Kings County, Brooklyn, New York, makes an average median income of $76,912 during the 2023 American survey with an average of 43.5% College education making Kings County hold a social class of working-middle class. I do believe this is an accurate representation of where I live being that most people in my neighborhood own their houses rather than rent them out.
3. A lot of social classes based in NYC, is according to people’s education and occupation. for instance, people who may work in finance, own their company, work in the media, or attended college with high degrees such as, master’s and PHD’s are more likely to live in the upper west side of Manhattan and have a social class of upper middle-upper class status. People who may work for a company, or attended college for a short period of time, associate or bachelor’s degrees are more likely to become working-middle class, and live in places such as, Brooklyn, Harlem, and even the Bronx. Social classes in NYC vary by income, education and different boroughs or different parts within a borough.

1. Repressive Apparatus is an establishment or foundation that can use their power to inflict harm if people don’t obey authority. This is so the foundation can make certain complying at all times, while authority can also maintain power. Example: Police, Courts, and Prison.
2. Ideological Apparatus is an institution that shapes how you behave so they can ensure obedience. Institutions as such work to remain the status quo, and for people to retain information, or train the brains to become obedient consciously, or subconsciously. Example: school and Church
3. The difference between Repressive apparatus and Ideological apparatus is cause and effect. Repressive apparatus is the outcome of disobedience towards authority, so they’re able to control you through power. Ideological apparatus is the training part to inflict obedience so repressive apparatus doesn’t come into effect caused by disobedience.
4. An example of ideology:

https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3269722393?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

This is a coming to age movie made in 1999 called “I’m A Cheerleader”, it’s about a girl who finds out she’s a part of the LBTQ community, and her parents are starting to suspect a change in her behavior. Her parents are very religious and don’t want to support her in her journey of change, so they send her to a program to convert her back to being straight. In my opinion, this would be an example of repressive apparatus, her actions caused the authority figures in her life (her parents) to take charge and seek change in an institution.

1. In my own view, ideology is a social or political belief that a person belongs to, Ideology is a belief people possess do to surrounding factors such as, family, social groups, or education. Ideology helps people gain an understanding of their society, government, and how people conduct themselves depending on their circumstances. an example of ideology would be, liberalism ,conservatism, and socialism etc.
2. The difference between liberal and conservative ideology is that Liberals believe in a bigger and more present government because thy favor a government who addresses social and economic inequality such as, making sure everyone has access to basic needs, housing, education, etc. A conservative government believes in a smaller and more of a closed-knit government interference in peoples lives. an example of this would be, limited government power, state level or local control, etc.
   Conservatives value liberty, Liberals value equality
3. I believe Althusser’s definition of Ideology derives from our everyday surrounding that influence our political beliefs. Surrounding areas of our life and communities shape what we believe is politically and substantially correct. Ideology impacts our beliefs that what was taught or shown to us is proper, or was already deep-rooted within us. I view Althusser’s definition as a guide to show us how powerful and influential ideology can be on our intelligence, and how ideology will continue to change within communities, and the more people’s perspective change the bigger impact it will have on future generations.