What is the distinction that Reading 4.3 makes between owners and employees? Give an example of each.

The distinction that Reading 4.3 makes between owners and employees is “who owns the wealth of society and those who must work for a living”. Owners for example live within the owning class as they make their money based upon investments such as stocks , bonds, rents, mineral royalties and other property income. Employees live based upon wages, salaries and fees. Majority of Americans today live through payback to paycheck with how our economy has been going within the years. An example of an owner would be a CEO of a company and an example of an example would be a sales associate.

How do you understand the quote by Adam Smith on pg. 28? What is it saying about labor?

The quote Adam Smith states on page 28 is “labor…is alone the ultimate and real standard by which the value of all commodities can at all times and places be estimated and compared. It is their real price; money is their nominal price only.” This quote states that human labor is the most important thing that makes something made by people values.

What are your thoughts on the main argument of Reading 4.4 that class is NOT an identity?

My thoughts on the main argument of Reading 4.4 that class is not an identity is I believe this is false as class is made up many different backgrounds, such as cultural, political, wealth. As stated within reading 4.4, “class locations are essentially gradational, with degrees of advantage or disadvantages.”

How do you understand the argument Reading 4.4 makes when stating that “class structures are built around a close form of dependency”? What is this close form of dependency, and can you think of an example?

Understanding the argument Reading 4.4 makes when stating that “class structures are built around a close form of dependency” is by each social class gives individuals a level of dependency with working as they take responsibilities. This close form of dependency is “it’s that to be a worker means, necessarily, to be dependent on a given capitalist or firm for a job.” An example of a close form of dependency would be being manager.

Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes?

The similarities I’ve notice about the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2 are they both highlight our social class based upon income. Both readings give great analysis of incoming starting from making $0-$19k all through making $250k yearly. These social groups are broken down by classes such as lower, working, middle, upper middle, and upper class. The differences in the way both readings differentiate between social classes are reading 4.1 breaks down our social class by using analysis that showcase, education, income and describe upon how much of an impact age, race, and rural areas have on our social classes, determining what they fall under. Reading 4.2 showcases more on based upon your income, it determines where you can live. The graph shows more losses than gains from our socials class.

Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood?

The closest station I live by is Bay Parkway on the D Line. According to Reading 4.1, the social class that lives within my neighborhood is between the working classes and middle class. The neighborhood is mixed with lots of Asians, Hispanics and Europeans. With reading the concepts, I am not surprised by the social class that lives within the neighborhood because of the culture surround and how small the businesses the neighborhood are. I do feel as it is an accurate representative of the people living in the neighborhood.

Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?

Based on Reading 4.2, the general pattern about social classes in NYC I noticed is within almost every train line, boroughs of Brooklyn and Bronx, the social class annual income was making less than $150k a year. However, depending on the neighborhood you’re in Manhattan for example, your income would need to be high. There is a lot of popular neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan that within the years, income needed to live there definitely rose a lot.

Keeping in mind the material covered in this lesson, describe how you understand ideology in your own words.

Ideology is having beliefs and opinions upon a specific group or an individual, who mainly focus upon political views. When beliefs and opinions are based on, they could influence behaviors upon these social groups. One example that showcases ideology in our own society would be democracy. With our current presidential election just two months away, democracy would be the political system as we have to vote and elect either a new president or keep our current president into a new term of 4 years. The cycle would repeat every 4 years. Understanding ideology is knowing what influence it gives you in political views. The way you portray your views is important as it reflects how you vote and the influence to society.

How do you understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics? What seem to be the big differences, the dividing line? Given an example to backup your arguments.

Understanding the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics are by conservatives being anti federalist and liberals being pro federalist. The differences between conservatives and liberals are that conservatives view are that they believe that a large government poses a threat to individual liberty and have laws placed to maintain our society, while liberals believe the government can help resolve societies issues such as bigger government resulting in bigger solutions. An example of conservative ideology is gun rights. Currently, the argument in our society revolves around whether to revoke our Second Amendment rights due to gun violence upscaling within the last 10 years. An example of liberal ideology would be same-sex marriages, in which men and women are allowed to marry a partner who are the same sex as them.

How do you understand Althusser’s definition of Ideology? Paraphrase it in your own words. Given an example.

I understand Althusser’s definition of ideology as stating ideology is more of a practice as he believes individuals are painting a false narrative through society. Althusser argues between repressive state apparatuses and ideological state apparatuses. Repressive state apparatuses operates with violence and ideological state apparatuses operates with ideology.