1. Where authority comes from and how citizens interact with different levels of government is what distinguishes federal, confederal, and unitary systems from one another. In a federal system, authority is divided between the national and state governments. For example, within the United States, citizens vote for state officials, including governors and state legislators, as well as federal representatives. In a confederation, the individual states hold most government authority. The central government, in comparison to the federal government, is weaker and depends heavily on the states. Lastly, in a unitary system, important government authority comes from the national government, while local governments are granted power by the national government.
2. Division of power, to my understanding, is a system designed to prevent government authority from being concentrated in one place. For example, the United States divides its power among three branches, namely the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. Each branch is designed to keep any one branch from overpowering the others. Another way the United States divides its power is through federalism. For example, government power is divided between the federal government and state governments. The federal government regulates interstate commerce, issues currency, conducts foreign affairs, and declares war, while the state governments handle matters that fall within their borders.
3. The main ways a federal government can shape the actions of state and local governments are through funding, grants, regulations, and mandates. As shown in Chapter 3.3, grants are described as “carrots” because state and local governments are more likely to pursue national objectives when receiving federal money. During COVID-19, the CARES Act of 2020 was introduced, under which federal money was granted to states to help respond to the pandemic. As shown, the Coronavirus Relief Fund distributed about $7.5 billion to New York State. But as the state received the money, it came with federal rules concerning eligible pandemic-related expenses, thus controlling how local government spent its money. Another example is FEMA, which stands for “Federal Emergency Management Agency,” and provided federal assistance that covered 100% of eligible costs for work performed from January 20, 2020, through July 1, 2022. COVID-19 connects directly to the concept of cooperative federalism, where the federal government provided funding with established conditions for its use.

1. The concept of “Factions” reminds me of social class and political groups. In the article, “factions” are described as groups of people who share a common interest. For example, Democrats share interests that differ from those of Republicans.
2. James Madison argues in his article that differences in wealth stem from unequal opportunities to obtain property. His overall argument is that people with more opportunities are more likely to gain wealth than those with fewer opportunities. The opportunities available to a person determine the kind of property they may own, which then creates different economic interests and social divisions.
3. In a way, I agree with James Madison’s explanation of wealth and poverty because differences in people’s abilities and skills can determine how far they go. However, someone’s opportunities can be limited by hereditary factors such as low family wealth, limited educational opportunities, and discrimination.
4. In the article, James Madison reveals that the core object of the U.S. government is to protect people’s faculties and property rights. This comes as a surprise to me because, in today’s society, the government is described as a system that maintains order, provides public services, and protects people’s rights. Madison’s statements show that the government only protects individuals who are able to obtain property.
5. No, I am not surprised that James Madison opposed democracy because he feared that people would use their political power against minority groups and their property. This connects to social class because of the differences in economic interests between those who owned a lot of property and those who did not. Madison believed that a representative republic would make it hard for one economic group to dominate everyone else. 

1. Parenti and Beard reveal that the Constitution was primarily written by men of great wealth who owned property. This class included landowners, merchants, creditors, investors, manufacturers, and slaveholders. People from the working class were not represented at the Constitutional Convention. Charles Beard, in his article, notes that people with no formal political power, including women and enslaved people, were excluded from the process. Another term used to describe those people in Beard’s article is “disenfranchised.” The difference between the two groups was that wealthy merchants wanted stronger protections for property, contracts, and commerce, while smaller merchants struggled with heavy taxes, low incomes, and high-interest debt. 
2. In early America, the social class structure, including inequality and class divisions, remains much the same today, but the legal and political conditions were different. Back then, your social class determined your political rights. For example, property requirements kept white men who didn’t own property from voting. Enslaved people, Native Americans, and free Black Americans were also prevented from voting. Wealth and property were associated with political power in early America. Today, Americans are not required to own property to vote, although social classes remain divided into high, middle, and low classes.
3. The main reason the people who wrote the Constitution were afraid of democracy was that they feared the lower class would use its numerical political power to challenge the economic interests of the wealthy. The interests of those who owned property and those without property were different. For example, the lower class would push for debt relief and changes to taxation. Shays’s Rebellion is a great example of farmers rebelling after experiencing heavy taxes and foreclosures. This rebellion demonstrated what could transpire if numerous lower-class citizens came together and fought against the existing system. 

1. The statistics on wealth inequality in the US on page 29 of the article revealed that the top 1% owned around 50% of the nation’s wealth. This clearly shows how unevenly wealth is distributed in society. Even though the 1% is a small share of the population, it’s surprising to me how much wealth they control in the US, while the rest own far less. Because large fortunes are inherited, this shows how wealth is concentrated across generations.
2. Access to opportunities is one implication for people living in a society with significant wealth inequalities. Wealthier people have access to better education, health care, and financial protection, while people with lower incomes struggle with rent, food, and debt. The argument that Perenti makes in the article is that these inequalities allow wealthy individuals to have greater economic power. We see this dynamic in everyday life, where the wealthy buy property and build more equity, while lower-income people live paycheck to paycheck, spending a large portion of their check on rent and food with little money left over for investments.

1. “M-C-M” in the article refers to a capitalist investing money to end up with more money. The first “M” represents the money a capitalist begins with, which transitions into the “C,” representing the commodities a capitalist invests in to make more money, such as buildings and machinery. This lets workers use their labor power and materials to create new products. Lastly, after the products are sold, the final “M” represents the original money plus the surplus value generated. Capitalists can reinvest the surplus value in more resources to produce more products and gain more profit.

1. In the video, the concept of “means of production” refers to the physical resources people need to produce goods. In a car factory, assembly machines, tools, and materials used to produce goods are examples of “means of production.” The term “Labor” refers to human work that goes into producing goods. An employee physically painting or inspecting a car in a car factory is an example of “Labor.”
2. In the video, “value” refers to the amount of labor time required to produce an item under normal conditions. Marx explains that effort doesn’t determine an item’s value. Value depends on how much labor society would need to produce the item.
3. Marx’s theory holds that labor and value are related because labor is the source of value. An employee uses their labor to transform materials into commodities that have value. The value of an item is strictly based on the amount of labor required to produce it.
4. According to Marx’s theory, “labor power” is a person’s capacity to work, whereas “labor” is the work performed. Marx explains how workers sell their labor power to employers in exchange for wages.
5. The term “surplus value” refers to the value a worker creates beyond the value of their labor power. For example, if a worker creates $400 of new value while, for that period, their labor power is valued at $200, the difference is surplus value. It’s crucial to understand “surplus value” when studying social class because it helps explain the relationship between the working class and capitalists. For example, workers sell their labor because they don’t have the means of production, while capitalists have the means of production and the surplus value generated through production.

1. In the article “Wealth and Want in the United States,” Parenti distinguishes employees from owners based on income. Parenti explains that owners are wealthy people who own property and earn their income through investments or the labor of others. For example, a landlord who rents out property to tenants and collects monthly rent is considered an owner. Employees are people who must work for a living and receive income through wages. For example, teachers, fast-food workers, sanitation workers, and nurses are all considered employees.
2. In the article “Wealth and Want in the United States,” Adam Smith writes, “labor …,” suggesting that labor is the key factor that transforms resources into valuable products. The sentence after the quote explains how a tree becomes valuable furniture through human labor, with workers first cutting the lumber and then manufacturing the product into something valuable that they can advertise and sell.  Essentially, human labor is transformed into valuable products.
3. In the article “Class Rules Everything Around Me,” Heideman argues that “class is not an identity,” a point I agree with because other factors, such as race and gender, also play a role in someone’s identity. A person can be considered “Middle Class” due to their occupation but may still be limited in resources due to their race. Social class only places people in categories that determine how much economic power they could have in society, but due to their race, that same person can still face inequality within that same society.
4. My understanding of the quote “class structures are built around a close form of dependency” is that employers and workers depend on each other to meet their needs. For example, workers depend on an employer to provide job opportunities so they can earn wages to pay for food and housing, while an employer depends on a worker to perform the labor that upholds the business and generates more profit. A delivery company like FedEx is a great example of this interdependence, where employees rely on the company for paychecks while the company relies on employees to sort packages, load the truck, and deliver them within the neighborhood.

2) The neighborhood I live in is called Marine Park, and based on the concept in the article “What Determines How Americans Perceive Their Social Class,” it is considered a middle-class neighborhood. The article identifies a person’s occupation and income as the two strongest factors in determining social class. Marine Park has many people who work in the Department of Education and other white-collar occupations, earning between $75,000 and $99,000 a year. I am not surprised by these results because the middle class is also known as the working class, and based on the article, statistics, and my knowledge of my neighborhood, the middle class is the best representation of Marine Park.

1) A Repressive State Apparatus is an institution that secures obedience through force, coercion, or punishment. For example, the police are a Repressive State Apparatus, and if a person commits a crime, they have the right to use force to arrest that individual. As with the police, Althusser calls it “repressive” because these institutions have the authority to legally compel people to follow society’s norms. Other examples of Repressive State Apparatuses include the military, government, and administrative bodies.

2) An Ideological State Apparatus is an institution that shapes people’s beliefs and values. Althusser’s examples include schools, families, churches, and political institutions. Rather than forcing people to comply with society’s rules, these institutions teach and reinforce what society deems appropriate and successful.

3) The main difference between Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses is that Repressive uses force to control people, while Ideological teaches individuals what’s considered normal.

4) This image of a police officer arresting an individual is an example of the Repressive State Apparatus.

1) To me, ideology is a set of ideas that shape people’s understanding of society and how they think it should work. People’s ideology affects government, equality, social justice, and capitalism. A person’s beliefs can be easily influenced by schools, religion, media, families, and the government. Depending on what someone is exposed to throughout their life, certain ideologies can seem “normal” while others may view them differently. For example, on poverty, a liberal ideology holds that help from the government to fix low wages and unequal opportunities could suffice. Meanwhile, a conservative ideology may hold that people are personally responsible for their own financial success.

In connection with Althusser’s argument, people believe their opinions are completely individual but fail to realize how much factors within society, such as schools, media, families, and religion, influence ideology. Ideology shapes how people explain social problems and decide what’s fair or unfair. A person’s view of the government’s role in society depends on their ideology, whether they choose to classify themselves as Democrat, Republican, Liberal, or conservative.

2)Based on Parenti’s explanation, the differences between conservative and liberal ideologies include individual responsibility, government roles, social welfare, and economic regulations. Conservatives believe people are responsible for their own lives and that government intervention in society should be limited. Another way to view conservatism is through self-reliance. If a person wants their own circumstances to change, it’s up to them to find the resources to better their own circumstances.  A simple example is poverty, where conservatives believe a person should become self-sufficient by finding a job rather than relying on long-term government assistance.

Although liberals accept capitalism, their beliefs stem from the necessity of government intervention. They believe that government regulations help fix problems created by economic systems. Programs such as unemployment insurance, minimum wage laws, and Social Security are often supported by liberals. Using poverty as an example, liberals argue that government assistance such as food assistance, affordable healthcare, and unemployment insurance can help individuals facing the issue.

3)Althusser’s main argument is that ideology is reproduced through institutions such as schools, families, religion, and the media. These institutions shape an individual’s identity, beliefs, and behavior from a young age. For example, beyond core subjects such as math, science, history, and writing, schools teach social behaviors such as arriving on time, following schedules, listening to authority, completing assigned work by deadlines, and accepting evaluations. This same teaching translates into the workforce, leading to Althusser’s next point about interpellation, in which people recognize themselves within societal roles as student, worker, citizen, or consumer.