In “Class Rules Everything Around Me,” Paul Heideman explains that workers and capitalists have diffrent interests because they have diffrent roles in the economy. Workers need jobs so they can earn money to pay for rent, food, transportation, and other things. Capitalists can make money by owning businesses, property, and investments. Heideman explains that workers have to sell their “labor power” in order to make a living. I understand this as workers selling their time and skills for a paycheck. This is easy to see in New York City because there are millions of jobs. In 2025, NYC had around 4.63 million jobs, with about 1.18 million in education and health services, 752,000 in professional and business services, and around 295,000 in retail. This shows how many people depend on jobs to make a living.

Workers and owners can also have different goals. Workers may want higher wages, better benefits, and safer working conditions, while owners may want to keep costs lower so they can make more profit. For example, a restaurant worker gets paid for the hours they work, while the owner can make money from the restaurant after paying workers and other costs. The average yearly wage in NYC financial jobs was around $309,863, while retail workers averaged about $57,922. Thats a really big difference. I think this connects to Heideman’s point that class is about more than just money. Its also about who owns things and who has control over economic resources. If someone needs a job to survive, the person who owns the business has more power in that relationship. This can also connect to race, gender, education, and other inequalities because these things can affect what jobs people have access to and how much they are paid.