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.

Based on the arguments presented in the readings The Social class that wrote the constitution would be The Elite class and the class that was excluded and not allowed to participate in this process would be The Excluded, The Elite class was mostly made of wealthy landowners, merchants to name a few but their primary concern would be to protect and expand their wealth while The Excluded class made of poor farmers, enslaved people and urban workers, In “Class Power in Early America” Parenti focuses on how the new American political system largely ignores the voices of the working class like poor farmers and urban laborers he lets us know that the constitution framers where more concerned in securing the interest of the wealthy and keeping their class power, Parenti also talks about the Revolutionary War, during it the poor farmers and workers had a major role in fighting for Independence but as soon as the war was over they were excluded from the political process, so the framers made up a system that was designed to limit the influence of poorer citizens, The Elite Class beard’s argument in “An Economic interpretation of the U.S Constitution” it shows us that the framers wanted to create a government that would protect their investments.

2)Would say that the social class structure of early United States society, was the same as ours today, or different? Explain

I think that the social class structure of early United States was different from the one we have today because of differences of political power, economic class structure or social mobility to name a few despite having some similarities there is difference for example political power in the early U.S society the wealthy elite, the framers of the constitution were mostly concerned in preserving their economics interest and maintaining control over the government and only property owning men could participate in the political process and the rest like the working class, indigenous people had no real political power compared to today’s society but today there are more ways to move up in society than back then and it’s more inclusive than before.

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.

I think that the people/framers who wrote the Constitution were afraid of democracy because they believed that too much power for the general population like the lower class would threaten their economic power and property rights, they also feared that the poor would disrupt the the economic system that benefited the wealthy elite, so to protect their interest they made up a system that would limit popular influence and to make sure that the educated elites held the most power in their government.

1. Which statistic on wealth inequality in the US (discussed on p. 29) made the biggest impression on you? Explain why?

One statistic will be the wealth inequality in the U.S which will be the top percent of Americans that hold a significant portion of the nations wealth which can be around 40 percent or more but this statistic shows us difference between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of the population, points out the imbalance in economic power, where a tiny percentage controls a lot of resources while the rest of the people or the majority struggle to secure financial stability.

1. 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?

Living in a society with wealth inequality that can have implications like social and political instability, like wealth gap getting wide it can cause can lead to protest because people might feel alienated and if you have money it can also translate to a type of political power leaving most people with little influence to make decisions that would affect their lives.

An example would be Healthcare Access, the healthcare system in the U.S also show the difference between the wealthy and the rest of the the population that is not, the rich people can afford the best healthcare most of the times they can skip long waiting lines or also receive treatment that are not available to others, so the working class and people who are in the low income brackets are relying on underfunded public healthcare programs or struggle to afford insurance which lead to worse health outcomes for them.

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.

So the two key concepts in this video are the means of production and labor, for means of production I understand that it can be understood as resources or tools that are needed to produce the goods and also services, it could be anything that is used to create products/goods, one example will be a farm it has land, tools and machinery like tractors that are needed as well as other tools and raw materials like seeds and fertilizers for the crops and also livestock making the farm owner the means of production and the farm workers will provide the labor by tending to the crops and taking care of the animals in exchange for money.

Labor will be the workers/people that produce the goods and the services with their physical and mental efforts they use the means of production to create said products they the workers will sell their labor for money. An example will be a waiter working at a restaurant, the waiter’s labor will be something like taking peoples orders, serving the food and drinks and also making sure the customer is getting a good serves that are some of the tasks that is included with the labor they use their energy and their own time to make sure that the restaurant is operating smoothly but they don’t own anything like the restaurant or any equipment in the kitchen which will be part of 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 the amount of labor required to produce whatever you are trying to make so the value of the product will be connected to the amount of work that goes into making it.

Value of value will be the total amount or necessary labor time that is required to make or produce that product also the amount of labor needed as well using skill and efficient workers it can be the combination of more than one person but primarily the amount of time that will be the value to create that product. An example will be a product that is handmade like a leather bag that is handcrafted the value of the bag will be determined by the amount of labor work that took to make it like cutting the leather stitching it together or if you want to add your own custom design any little details that you might want on that handmade bag will require time and effort so the value will be higher compared to a mass produced handbag which is machine made, so the value will be coming from the labor because he is creating it and making the item more personalized making the labor time their craftsmanship and unique touches these things will contribute to the value.

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

Labor and Value are related, labor will be the source of the value and the value of the goods/products are determined by the amount of labor used to produce that product.

The relationship/connection between both is that labor creates the value so the more labor that one puts into creating a product the higher the value will go like labor determines the value and labor being the source of value, labor creates the value but also the market value can change depending on other factors like supply and demand.

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.

Understanding the difference between labor and labor power is an important idea in Marxist theory because it helps us understand both of them, labor will be an actual worker that we people putting in the mental and physical effort to produce the goods it’ll be the energy and also the time we spent on producing goods and services, labor power refers to a workers capacity or their ability to work the potential to preform labor is the amount of work a worker has or is capable of doing which those workers sell to employers while labor will be the action of doing the work.

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 between what a worker is paid and the value of what they are actually making, the extra value that the workers give and over the value of their labor power how much they are getting paid.

I think it’s important to understand surplus value in our study of social classes because it helps us understand the exploitation of the capitalist system the workers who produce more value than what they are paid for and that extra value that they produce is kept by the capitalist class so that leads to the collection of wealth for the capitalist meanwhile the working class gets underpaid, it also explains the class divide, the capitalist class benefits from the surplus value which is produced by the working class which leads to the imbalance in the wealth and power between the classes.

An example will be a clothing factory person working in one is getting paid 12 dollars per hour sewing clothing and they work 8 hours and they produce like 7 pieces of clothing and each of them sell for 40 dollars in the market, Their wage(labor power) they will earn 12 dollars per hour times how many hours they are working which are 8 hours so that will be 96 dollars for that day so that will be their wage for that day and the value produced which will be the pieces of clothing that they made that day which was 7 pieces times the market value for each piece of clothing which is 40 dollars a piece that will amount to 280 dollars for those 7 pieces of clothing, So the surplus value would be the difference between the values that they produced and the wage that they received from doing it, So the Surplus value will be 280 dollars and the money she got from her 8 hour shift(wage) for the 7 pieces of clothing will be 96 dollars, which shows the exploitation in the capitalist system the person is producing goods that are worth more than what they are getting paid, the surplus value is assigned by the capitalist, this way the capitalist gather more wealth by taking out surplus value from the workers.

1)Describe how you understand ideology in your own words.

A) Well ideology in my own words in my own words and my understanding is that ideology is like a structure of a bunch of ideas and beliefs or opinions of one person or a group and how it influences peoples or groups point of view of this world we live in and our opinions towards it, for example communism and capitalisms also helping us understand the culture or society based on those ideas or beliefs that those certain individuals or groups have towards those topics how they view them, but ideologies can be wide range, people like us tend to follow some ideology because it can give us a sense of identity or a way of life or path, it gives us a vision of how things should look like gives us different solutions to problems, but it can also divide people who have a different viewpoint on how things should be in their vision that being beliefs reinforcing specific power structures.

B) Give an example illustrating what you wrote in (A).

For example Communism and Capitalisms during the Cold War Communism(Soviet Union)(USSR) and Capitalism(United States) both of this groups had different ideologies which are Communism and Capitalism so their point of view of the world, beliefs, solutions and opinions are completely different like their Economic System, Individual rights, Social class and the Role of the Government and how all of those ideas influenced people’s daily lives during those times.

C) Write another paragraph (or two), explaining to your reader with additional details, how you understand ideology.

Okay so they are a list of ideologies and each of them have their own viewpoint on how things should be by proposing solution towards problems which may be different to what another group or individual may belief in and that can cause problems from both sides with completely opposite goals, values, solutions and practices and we as people how a choice if you want to follow a type of ideology that you might connect with or identify with you and those beliefs on how something should be like a guide for how we should act, Ideologies can bring people together with common set of beliefs which can unite groups but can also divide us.

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.

The Difference between Conservative and Liberal ideologies would be the social issues, values, economic policy and government role, The core beliefs, conservatism would be limited government and individual responsibility and Liberalism would go for larger government. The Big difference would be the role of the government, conservatives believe the government should be smaller focusing in individual freedom and liberals are comfortable with the government addressing their issues the values of culture and the values of social like religious values and economic policy but it all comes down to the role of the government. An example would be Gun control conservatives believe in the second amendment the right to bear arms which lets law abiding citizens the right to own and carry a firearm, liberals have gun control laws which has background check restrictions on assault weapons this is aimed to reduce gun violence and protecting the public, the debate on gun control divides the conservatives and the liberals.

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

How I understand Althusser’s definition of ideology is that it’s not just a collections of ideas and beliefs but a system of practices that shapes us as individuals on how we see our selves and the world, for example schools, religion and the media which shapes how we see ourselves and the world guiding our behavior and identity and the actions we take, an example could be the education system schools not only teaching us math, English but also teach us some social values like respecting authority like for example teachers or school staff following rules those types of things also getting good grades so you can become successful in the future, shaping us in a way for future roles in society.

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

Repressive state apparatus refers to the institutions and structures in society that enforce law and order through force or the threat of force, some example can be military, prison or the police. Althusser calls it “repressive'” because those institutions like prison or the court directly control suppresses people who resist or threaten the state’s power, “repressive” in that they use violence or punishment to maintain status quo, Althusser’s choice of the word “repressive” represents the violence and forceful nature of those institutions to maintain authority, and example can be the police force if people join a protest and join groups that go against the government the police can step in sometimes even using force to stop or suppress those groups to maintain social order, the Repressive State Apparatus primary function is to ensure that the state’s power is upheld.

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

The Ideological State Apparatuses is the institutions and systems in society that shape and control our(people’s) ideas, beliefs. values and consciousness, so they work through ideology by influencing how individuals think, feel and view the world, some examples are schools they teach us certain values and beliefs like respecting authority, discipline and work ethic, churches which promote moral codes and belief systems, Family’s teaching us the norms and the values like gender roles or the idea of being individual responsibility to name a few how the Ideological State Apparatuses works is by shaping people’s beliefs and ideas they don’t force us to act a certain way like the Repressive State Apparatuses with violence or punishment but they create a system where people(us) can accept certain beliefs or worldviews without realizing they’re being controlled by getting people to accept their roles within, like schools students learn about capitalisms economic systems or another thing like nationalism and make it seem like it’s the best choice over time reinforcing that idea and encouraging to conform to the most dominant ideology.

3) How are the Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses different from each other? What is the difference between the two?

The main differences of Repressive State Apparatuses and the Ideological State Apparatuses is the way they maintain social control and power, one uses force(RSA) and the other one works primarily with Ideology(ISA). other differences would be how they control a situation one Repressive State Apparatuses using violence and the Ideological State Apparatuses works through beliefs, ideas and ideologies, how they function is also a difference Repressive State Apparatuses enforcing the law and making sure everything is stable, and then we have the Ideological State Apparatuses using ideology to make people accept existing power structures both of them work in different ways one through repression of psychical resistance and the other by shaping peoples minds and beliefs.

4. Post an example of ideology. This could be a piece of writing, an image, video, pdf document, visual art, or music, clip from a movie. Next to your example, specify if this is an example of repressive or ideological apparatuses at work.

In this Movie Akira(1988) Repressive and Ideological Apparatuses are at work I’ll give an explanation to both examples in the movie, Repressive State Apparatuses in Akira the government controls the population using it’s military force and police repression, the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo where the government uses It’s armed forces to suppress resistance and manage the city. Also Ideological Apparatuses the government and the media are shown in the movie manipulating the population and also creating “experiments” which shows how the use of advanced technology for social control and the media making the government seem like the protectors of society by maintain the status quo by suppressing any rebellion, so It’ll be both Repressive State Apparatuses and Ideological Apparatuses shown in this piece of media.