1. Two key concepts in this video are the means of production and labor. In your comment, explain how you understand the means of production and labor. Give an example of each.

Based on my understanding of the video the means of production is the materials that is need such as wood. Labor is the work/time that is needed to make something. So taking the wood and laboring it to create a chair or a desk.

2. Another important concept in understanding social class is value. Based on the ideas presented in Video 5.1, what is value?  What give “value” to value, what makes something valuable? 

based on the video time that is given to labor something under normal circumstances is what makes something valuable. This also includes the training a laborer might need to endure. For example a hand made chair will cost more than a chair that was manufacture buy machines. hand making of objects is much more time consuming than using machines.

3. How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two?

Well when it comes to labor and value the connection between the two is an objects value is based on the laboring time it takes to make an object under normal circumstances.

4. How do you understand the difference between labor and labor power? Hint: this is a key difference, give it your best shot based on what the video says about it, and your own ideas. We’ll clarify and develop it in our discussions, and in my video comments.

From my understanding of labor and labor power is labor is the actual action of working and labor power is the necessities you need to do the labor such as food, clothing and shelter.

5. Surplus Value: what is it? Why is it important to know about, in our study of social classes? Think about an example of surplus value?

based on what the video explained surplus value is the profit that is made freely off of a person. So how I understood what was being stated in the video is a worker has to work for a day. Let’s say 9-5 a person works. The owner only pays the worker for 4 hours which is the amount of hours to cover food, shelter and clothing. After that from 1p – 5p you are basically working for free but the owners are still gaining profit off of the work you put in from 1-5. This is important for us to know because this is how we live. This shows the difference between the employee/working class and the owning/wealthy class.

1. What is a Repressive State Apparatus? Why does Althusser call it “repressive”? Can we explain his choice of words here. Give an example.

According to Althusser, when it comes to repressive state apparatus this is where people are controlled by fear and violence. This is the use of military, police, governments, courts, etc. Althusser calls it “repressive” because it is more or less a control over people’s freedom. For example, in some states a person commits a crime. They are physically arrested by police. Taken to jail/ prison where they are physically confined until they go to court and stand trial in front of a judge who makes judgement about the next steps this person will face. This structure of things is what is set to help continue control over people.

2. Let’s do the same for the Ideological State Apparatuses. What are they, how do they seem to work?

When it comes to ideological state apparatuses this is where people are controlled by ideas. This is by the use of schools, churches, media, etc. For example, when you go to church or school you are given verbal speeches and imagery of messages they want you to understand and agree with. Like when it comes to church you are told that if you do evil things and disobey the lords word you will go to hell and if you are good you will go to heaven. As far as I know no one has physically been to either and live to tell us the story and provide evidence of it. But because of the mental notions that are place in our minds of course we would all choose heaven over burning for eternity in hell.

3. Important: this question will appear on our exam: How are the Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses different from each other? What is the difference between the two?

In order to keep constant control there has to be constant structure all around, from our government to our schools. The main difference between the two of them is one of them creates control through violence and fear which is repressive state and one creates control through ideas which is ideological state. With repressive state there government has direct control of this and when it comes to ideological the state does not have direct control.

4.

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

The difference between owners and employees that was identified in the reading is that the owners mostly live off of “investments, which include stocks, bonds, rents, mineral royalties, and other property income.” While their employees live mostly off “wages, salaries, and fees.” Another difference that was noted is the owners are wealthy because of them owning the businesses. The owners does not worker they have the employees work for them while they gain all of the money.

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

My understanding of Adam Smith’s quote is that the money price on items is not the real value but rather the item in its raw state. In the reading it talks about how trees is the important aspect. Without trees then there will be no lumberjacks, no paper, or furniture

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

I agree with the argument stated in the reading. Class is not an identity. Class like expressed in the reading is similar to ladder which a person can move up and down on. When it comes to things such as race, gender etc this what a person can not just chose to change. Like Hillary Clinton expressed breaking up with banks will not stop the racism people endure because of their actual identities such as their gender or race

4. 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?

From my understanding of close dependency it is when someone is in direct need of someone else to provide them with necessities. An example that was explained in the reading is how a worker is dependent on their job to pay them their salary or wages.

1. 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?

One similarity that was discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2 is they are based on income, age, social class and race. Both also gives an idea of which area would be considered “rich”, “low”, “Working class” and “middle” class. The difference between the two is 4.1 only provide us an idea of the supposed incomes at each train stop but does not provide us with details as to who live at these stop, gender, race, etc. With 4.2 it provides a more deeper look into race, age, gender, etc of the class identification.

1. 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?

I live on Morris Park on the 5 train line but I am also walking distance from the 2 train line. I can say by looking at the train maps of both lines I am not surprised at what I see. For the 5 train the median is 70K which many people consider to be middle class. In this neighborhood it is very peaceful and provides a more suburban feel. There are more private houses over here than building. Whereas Pelham Parkway median is 39k which people consider to be working class. On Pelham Parkway there are more buildings and projects over in this area. Unfortunate to say when I receive citizen app notifications of crimes that has just occur it’s normally off of Pelham Parkway. Also up that way there are many homeless people that live around that area. I feel that people in both areas are hard working. Just with certain things such as landscaping. I believe a person have to have a solid, stable income in order to buy a house here in NYC. NYC property taxes are high let alone paying monthly payments on the house. I do believe it is an accurate representation of both areas.

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

Based on the reading 4.2 it shows that that the “wealth” and “Upper middle” classes were in the lower parts of manhattan. Whereas the poor parts outside of Manhattan.

1. Keeping in mind the material covered in this lesson, describe how you understand ideology in YOUR OWN WORDS. 

What is ideology? From my understanding ideology is basically bunch of ideas that is grouped together to help create political and economic theories. To break this down a little further, there a lot of different theories that is created because a bunch of people who agrees on the same set of ideas creates these different theories.  

For example, when it comes to political ideologies, these are a set of ideas as to how we should run our country. We have different ideologies such as Liberalism, Conservative and Moderate. When it comes to Liberalism the group of people that coincides with this ideology believes that the government should be more involved with our economics but less concern with what is considered right or wrong in our lives. (One Liberal idea is that the growth in the industrial are the cause of global warming. Liberals would want the government to create laws to help deter global warming). Whereas when it comes to Conservatives, this group of people believe that social issues should be the government’s main focus and our economics should be the government’s least focus. They feel that the government should have little say so about our economics. (One Conservative idea would be that a greener plant is what everyone does want but placing to many policies on the industrial sector can cause a loss of jobs.) 

Ideology is a bunch of people agreeing on a set of ideas as to how the country should be ran and how our economics should be handled.  

2. 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. 

Hint: try to identify key words (concepts) that play a big role in making someone consider themselves to be liberal or conservative. Then, explain in your own words what those keywords (concepts) mean. 

The difference between liberals and conservatives is liberal want more government, they are for regulation and more taxes, they want equality, overall, they are for the government solving our problems. Whereas the conservatives are for less government involvement, less taxes and for people to solve their own problems. When it comes to gun control, liberals believe that there should be restrictions on the ownership of guns. The government should create laws that limits gun access. For Conservatives they believe the way the military have access to gun, people should have the right to bear arms. The right to protect themselves with limited government restrictions.  

3. How do you understand Althusser’s definition of ideology? Paraphrase it in your own words. Given an example. Hint: you may have to watch the second video again, and find the few places where Althusser’s position is presented. 

It appears that Althusser believes that ideology is something that is created internally and through religion. In the video he talks about how if a person is born in a certain class that is the class they should stay. He explains how in the bible it talks about staying in your position to not disrupt the structure of things. He indicated this is something the white and wealthy people aim for. The richer stays richer because they choose not to involve the government in all sectors. So, less spending equal less taxes. But the poor stay poor because many minorities believe in using the government and having the government fund thing which causes higher taxes. 

1. Why do think Southern racist politicians chose to frame their defense of racial segregation through the language of “law and order”? What special advantages was this choice of words going to give them?

Southern racist politicians chose of frame their defense of racial segregation through the language of “law and order” because they knew they could not just arrest people of color for peaceful protest such as the Civil Right Movement. They knew they needed a way to cover up their opposition against the Civil right Movement and the ending of Jim Crow. Some advantages they gain by using this choice of wording is the ability to continue to oppress people of color while not violating the bill of rights. In M. Alexander reading she talks about how “Southern governors and law officials would often characterized these tactics as criminal and argued that the rise of the Civil Rights Movement was indicative of a breakdown of law and order;” and supporting the Civil Rights Movement was America basically “rewarding lawbreakers.” This language allowed the Southern racist governors to title black activist as criminals and the protest as criminal acts.

Another advantage that was gained was the fact that the Southern racist was now able to provide statistics that keeping segregation was beneficial. In the reading M. Alexander explains, during the time of the Civil Rights Movement crime was reportedly higher in the national crime rate report. The Southern racist pushed the idea this was happening because of integration and that “integration causes crime, citing lower crime rates in Southern states as evidence that segregation was necessary.”

1. Do you think the Southern Strategy is still influencing American politics? Give an example supporting your answer.

I do believe that Southern Strategy is still influencing American politics. For example the “I can’t Breathe/ Black Lives Matter” movement that was happening due to all of the excessive police violence against Black people. For example the Eric Garner & George Floyd murders. During this time frame many people was out protesting against police violence. However, with media coverage and politicians it made it appear that the protest was violent and needed for more police force. On the news you seen people loitering, setting things on fire, etc. Every time it comes to something that supports Black and Brown people, the media always displays the violent parts oppose to the peaceful. I believe no matter the protest or who is protesting there is always a chance of violence happening.

1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. Explain her argument by referring to the various examples she mentions to backup her point. (see p. 1-2)

In the reading “The New Jim Crow”, M. Alexander expresses the mainstream view on mass incarceration is incorrect. In the reading she expresses that many people believes that the war on drugs is in response to the rise of crack cocaine. She indicates that many people also believes that the crack cocaine crisis was mainly in black neighborhoods and the black and brown people are the ones selling it as well. She combats this by stating ” President Ronald Reagan officially announced the current drug war in 1982, before crack became an issue in the media or a crisis in poor black neighborhoods. A few years after the drug war was declared, crack began to spread rapidly in the poor black neighborhoods of Los Angeles and later emerged in cities across the country.” This shows how can a “war” be created if there is nothing to war against. In the reading she expresses that during the time President Reagan announced this war on dugs, drug usage was declining. So the question is what would cause him to announce a war on something that is not there or rather a problem at the time? Then a few years later a crack crisis explodes in black neighborhoods.

M. Alexander then expresses how people of all colors uses drugs. But apparently it was seen as a crisis only in black and brown neighborhoods. In the reading, she shines light on the media for helping to push this idea of war on drugs in black and brown neighborhoods. M. Alexander talks about how President Reagan used the media to display things such as black crack dealers, black crack whores and black crack babies to push this idea that it was a huge crisis in the black neighborhoods. Further-less to say, laws and policies was then created to crackdown on the drugs. So now that people have an image in their minds that the crack crisis was so abundant in minority communities mostly minority people was being arrested. People were being arrested for selling and using. This is how the mass incarceration began to happen.

2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?

M. Alexander states in the reading “most people assume the War on Drugs was launched in response to the crisis caused by crack cocaine in inner-city neighborhoods. This view holds that the racial disparities in drug convictions and sentences, as well as the rapid explosion of the prison population, reflect nothing more than the government’s zealous—but benign—efforts to address rampant drug crime in poor, minority neighborhoods.” Do to this assumption that the war on drugs was launched to address the crack cocaine crisis in inner-city neighborhoods does not show the rate of drug crimes as a whole. The focus was directed to the black and brown communities opposed to all communities. People were being arrested not for only selling drugs but for also using or rather have small possessions of drugs. At this point people are being arrested for non-violent drug crimes.

3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?

My understanding of the above phrase is the American penal system uses punishment as a form to control human behavior and to display what social norms should look like. In the the reading M. Alexander talks about how punishment is no where close to actual crime patterns. In the reading she states “between 1960 and 1990, for example, official crime rates in Finland, Germany, and the United States were close to identical. Yet the U.S. incarceration rate quadrupled, the Finnish rate fell by 60 percent, and the German rate was stable in that period.” This shows how different the American Penal system handles crimes so differently than other countries with similar crime rate.