1. Describe the primary differences in the role of citizens in government, among the federal, confederation, and unitary systems. In a federal system power is equal between the state and the government. Each state has their own laws. In a confederation system instead of it being equal, the state has the most power while the government doesn’t. In a unitary system, now the government has the most control, but the local government follows it.
2. Briefly explain how you understand the system of division of power. The division of power are responsibilities that the federal, local, and state have to maintain. Each has their own level of responsibility, one being a higher level than the other. Or some can be shared depending on what it is.
3. How does the federal government shape the actions of state and local governments? Write your answer based on doing a bit of research on how the federal government has influenced the actions of NY state and local governments, during the COVID-19 pandemic. During covid-19 the federal government helped by giving certain parties funding, money to those who were unemployed, businesses, etc. They also enforced public health rules that people needed to follow. Also enforcing rules that limited people from traveling or going to unnecessary places. It was at a federal point because then people would understand how serious the situation was.

1. Based on the arguments presented in Readings 6.1 and 6.2, which social class wrote the Constitution, and which class was excluded and not allowed to participate in this process? In your comment, make sure you clearly specify the difference between the two classes by giving examples from the readings. The social class that wrote the constitution was the economic wealthy, such as people who own big businesses or land. They excluded the lower class such as individuals who work on farms, workers in factories, and women. Charles Beard explains that “Founding Fathers” had a plan financially to make a government and wanted to strictly follow that plan, he wanted to keep property rights safe and give benefits to the wealthy. M. Parenti explains how the poorer class wanted more say in government decisions. The difference between the two is the rich had more power and control with the government while the poor had no rights in say or to have an opinion.
2. Would say that the social class structure of early United States society, was the same as ours today, or different? Explain. I would say the social class structure of early United States is similar to days society, because you see in todays world that the wealthy and rich have power over what they want and they control money. The difference is today though that many people have more government rights, better education, and voting rights.
3. Why were the people who wrote the Constitution so afraid of democracy? Hint: think about how to answer this question by discussing it in terms of social classes. Those who wrote the constitution were afraid of democracy because they wanted to protect themselves and what they owned. They thought that if every one had a right to voice their opinion about the government there would be new laws that gave the lower class more chances to gain the wealth of those who had it at the moment, they didn’t want that.

1. Which statistic on wealth inequality in the US (discussed on p. 29) made the biggest impression on you? Explain why? The statistic that stood out to me is that 1% of people own the majority of the country’s wealth, being 40%-50%. This shows how un fair money and wealth is distributed across the United States. A lot of people think that the majority of Americans live in the middle class but this just shows that a select few really have the wealth. Also showing that these individuals were born into wealth, so they don’t need to work hard maybe not work at all while others would struggle their whole life no matter how much hard work they put into it.
2. What could be some of the implications of living in a society that has such huge wealth inequalities? Do you see this dynamic getting played out in everyday life in our society? How so? Example? Some implications could be that since only a select few of people in the United States have wealth, people who struggle with making money can struggle with paying for the essentials like food, a home, medicine/doctors, education and more, while the wealthy have immediate access to all of those things. For example New York City and the suburbs outside of the city, there are nice tall skyscraper penthouses that cost millions of dollars while homeless people just casually walk past it every day. Another example is schools, wealthy people can put themselves in private school or boarding school then pay for the most expensive college to get the best education possible while others are stuck with public school and having to go to community college even though they would’ve wanted to go to a nice university. It’s something that makes it hard for lower class people to achieve because the wealthy don’t have to work for it, it’s handed to them.

The term M-C-M is used to explain how the capitalists build their wealth and keep it steady. M(Money) C(Commodity) M(More Money).

The “M” stands for the business owner using their starter money to invest in commodities. They get the money from previous work they’ve done. The “C” stands for the business owners using their money to purchase materials, machines, and labor power. The final “M” stands for more money, the things that are produced are sold and labeled at a higher price than how they originally purchased it for, basically selling it for more than they invested into it. The money they make is from the employees creating higher value products, but getting paid less; surplus value.

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. Labor is the work that’s required to create products, where the means of production are things such as equipment, factories, and land to actually have a set setting to create these products. For example, at a deli there are workers who give their labor whisking eggs, making smoothies. Then there are the stoves, toasters, knives, used to create the product, being the means of production.
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? Value is determined by how long or little time needed to produce the product. Marx claims that because work gives value to things, the time and effort that goes to producing the product makes it valuable. For example a blanket thats made handmade is more valuable than a blanket thats made by a machine because of the time and effort put into making the blanket. What makes something valuable is the time and effort put into the work, something thats rarely been touched, like it’s sacred.
3. How are labor and value related? What’s the relationship/connection between the two? Labor and value are related because labor is the key of creating value. If something wasn’t created to begin with, it would not have held value. There is so much time being put into creating a product or giving a service that the time frame determines the value.
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. The difference is, labor is the physical work someone does to create a product or give a service. Labor power is the capacity or how much of a worker that they give to someone to be paid in return.
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? Surplus value is the difference of what a worker is paid versus what they produce. Workers will always give value to something they are giving or making rather than what they are being paid. This is important because this shows how higher ups will always benefit from the lower class giving their labor.

1. 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 are gone by their roles in the economic system. The “owners” control the businesses and factories. Instead of working to be paid, they get their income from others working under them; As an example someone who owns a large business. While the employees are giving themselves and their labor to the owners to be paid.
2. How do you understand the quote by Adam Smith on pg. 28? What is it saying about labor? The quote is explaining the relatability between “being rich” and labor. While the employees are trying to work as much as they can to earn a lot of money, the owners are selfish and only give them little portions of what they worked for. As Smith says in the text, “The workmen desire to get as much as possible, the masters to give as little as possible.” This is saying that there is a huge difference between the owners and employees, as the employees want to be paid fairly but the owners keep the wages low. The economic system cared more about money than neutrality.
3. What are your thoughts on the main argument of Reading 4.4 that class is NOT an identity? With the main argument of reading 4.4 that class is not an identity, a social class should not determine someones identity. For example someone who works in retail and someone who works in a factory are both in the working class but have two different lives, strictly because they are only relying on their pay. While the owners share a class because they benefit from other people working.
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? Since the working class and wealthy class are linked the owners are very dependent on the working class for getting their money from them. Now that the workers require their pay and rich need workers to make money, it’s not. mutual thing as the workers have to give their labor to earn money while the rich don’t have to lift a finger. Even in the real world today, we work for online shopping companies giving our labor for money while the owners of the companies don’t do anything but get paid.