1.) According to readings 6.1 and 6.2, the capitalist class wrote the constitution, while the working class was completely excluded from the writing of the constitution. The owning class back then viewed a direct democracy as a threat to their consolidation of wealth, so the founding fathers made things like the Electoral Collage to limit the power of the working class person. Also, the only way to be active in politics back then was to be a white man that owned land. If you own land in order to create more wealth for yourself, you are a capitalist.

2.) I believe that the class structure during this countries inception is the same as it is today. For example, the Electoral Collage still exists. Furthermore, capitalists still enforce laws and policy in order to protect and expand their own wealth. The average person is also still indebted through mortgages and student loans in order to sustain their lives, the same way a common farmer would be back during the Revolutionary era.

3.) The founding fathers were scared of democracy because it was a direct threat to their way of life. If the average person had the power to make changes in government, they wouldn’t let the capitalist class take advantage of them the way they did and still do.

1.) The word faction reminds me of the term working-class that we have already delved in to. According to the reading, the word faction is defined as a group of citizens who are united and driven by a shared set of ideas to challenge the status quo. The working class is defined as everybody within a capitalist society who relates to each other by having to work in order to buy the commodities needed for living. In conclusion, the working class could be considered a faction as each member of the working class gets their means of living the same way.

2.) According to the Federalist Papers #10, the source of private property is controlled by the system that allows a small group people to control massive amounts of wealth. Because of the disenfranchisement of every group in society, only white males could own wealth and participate in politics, further limiting the pool of people who could have wealth.

3.) I do agree with this explanation of wealth and poverty, as it affirms the idea that the capitalist class needs the working class in order to sustain wealth.

4.) The core mission of the US Government is to control the faculties of the working class to perpetuate capitalism and to protect the capitalists, according to Federalist Papers #10. This does not surprise me, and I believe the government still works the same way today. The wealth gap today is even worse than it was back then, and the average person in the United States still doesn’t reap the benefits of this country’s wealth. Also, the method to become a capitalist has not changed since then.

5.) I am not surprised that the author of the Federalist Papers #10 supports a Republican form of government as opposed to a Democratic form of government. The author would dislike the idea of Democracy because the author would’ve been a member of the elite capitalist class, and if Democracy was enacted the capitalist class would lose their power. If the average person did have a say in government, the wealth of the United States would be spread out more as opposed to being consolidated by a small group of people.

1.) In the video “Labor and Class Conflict,” the terms means of production and labor are introduced. Means of production is defined as everything needed to produce a product. For example, the means of production for a movie would include the actors, the directors, the writers, the cameras, the capital needed to pay all of these positions, and so on. Labor is defined as the work done to increase the value of any given product. According to Marx, the only way to increase a products value is through laboring. When making a smart phone, for example, the scientists and engineers working on the product needed an extreme level of education in order to have the knowledge to create their product. Furthermore, the mining process of rare Earth metals is extremely laborious, so smart phones are generally very valuable.

2.) In order for something to be valuable, it must have a lot of labor going in to creating said product. According to the Labor Theory of Value, the time it takes to create a product under regular conditions increases its value. So, the more valuable something is the more time it took to create it.

3.) Labor and value directly correlate to how valuable something is. The more labor that is needed to create a product, the more valuable it will be.

4.) Labor is defined as the work performed by a person to create a product. Labor power, however, is the ability to labor that is only found in people. While both are measurable, labor power correlates to the potential a person has to work and labor correlates to that work as a whole.

5.) Surplus value is the profit made off of other peoples’ labor by a capitalist. Surplus value is important for us to learn about when studying classes because it is the driving force of a capitalist in a capitalist society. Also, surplus value shows us how much our labor is actually worth. For example, the video stated that during an 8 hour work day, a worker would cover the amount of money they made for themselves in about 4 hours. However, they must work the rest of their day in order to make surplus value for their company’s shareholders.

Capitalists maintain and increase their wealth by following the general formula of capital; Money -> Commodity -> Money + Surplus Value. By using this formula, capitalists use the money they already have in order to buy a commodity. Once they have this commodity, they sell it for surplus value, or a profit, in order to make even more money. This formula implies you need to have money in order to make money, which is how capitalists maintain and increase their wealth.

1.) The statistic about wealth that made the biggest impression on me was the line that stated, “taking in to account their debts and mortgages, 90 percent of American families have little or no assets,” (29). Personally, I find this revolting. We are the richest country in the world and the average person doesn’t own any of that wealth. Although stocks seem to be extremely popular right now, for example feels like I see a Robinhood ad or cryptocurrency ad every ten minutes online, it makes sense that despite its popularity nobody can afford them; wages are just too low and basic necessities are priced like everybody makes hundreds of thousands of dollars every year.

2.) If you live in a society that has a major wealth inequality, you should expect to pay too much money on basic goods and to never own any sort of asset on your own wages. I see this every day, especially in New York City. I’ve seen a half-dozen carton of eggs for almost $20 in Manhattan on multiple occasions. If you aren’t okay with having roommates, you better be okay with spending north of $3k per month on rent for a studio. Also, a society with a major wealth inequality will also have a large sector of the population living in poverty. If there is no poverty, then the capitalists cannot continue to expand their capital, therefore the system would fail if there was no poverty. I see poverty every second of every day. People living paycheck to paycheck, people not being able to afford their monthly car payment or rent, even kids going to school every day just to get free meals. As the wealth inequality grows in this country, these problems will just continue to grow.

1.) Ideology is a term used to describe the way people think about political, social and economic issues and circumstances within a society. Someone’s ideology is usually defined by their own personal circumstances, such as class, race, sex, education level and environment. That is not always the case, however, and it is important not to generalize the ideology of any sector in a society and give in to stereotypes.

An ideology will likely dictate the way you participate in society and your moral compass. For example, an American Conservative believes in small government due to the absence of federal government within their day to day lives and view certain social issues, like homosexual marriage, as wrong due to certain moral standings passed down through their family. Meanwhile, an American Liberal may believe in a large federal government in order to solve large, complex issues in the social and economic sector of society and stand up for marginalized groups such the LGBTQ+ community. While a conservative and a liberal may disagree on a lot, they arrived to their respective conclusions for the same reasons; personal circumstance and experiences.

Ideology as a concept seems to be very fluid. Even though any one person may identify themselves within a certain ideology, they may have beliefs on specific issues that don’t align with what their ideology believes as a whole. I feel as though being fiercely loyal to only one way of thinking is detrimental to society as a whole, and it’s important to treat others with a different ideology than you with respect, even if what they believe is objectively wrong.

2.) Conservative and liberal ideologies are incredibly different in how they perceive almost everything. Conservatives believe in liberty from an overarching federal government and want smaller, local governments to have the most power. Their morality on social issues are almost exclusively traditional, with a large sector of conservative Americans being against things like same-sex marriage and social programs that require government spending, such as medicaid and unemployment benefits. Conservatives also believe in a large national defense budget, as they tend to believe the purpose of a federal government is to protect its citizens from foreign entities. Liberals, however, disagree with almost everything conservatives believe in. A large government and it’s capacity to aid in large and complex social and economic issues is very important to the American liberal. To rectify these issues, liberals believe in cutting our massive military budget and more taxes to help pay for solutions. Liberals also tend to stand up for marginalized groups in society and are much more accepting of others. Personally, I believe education level and the environment one grows up in correlates to whether or not you’d classify your own ideology as being more liberal or conservative. If you have a broadened perspective of the world due to increased education opportunities and/or living in a large, international city, you’ll probably be more left-leaning. Furthermore, if you grew up in a poor county in the middle of nowhere with terrible education systems and a very homogenous population, you’ll probably be more right leaning. It’s all about perspective.

3.) Althusser’s definition of ideology believes a person’s ideology will dictate their decisions without second-guessing themselves, and also believes these ideologies are enforced by external factors using social apparatuses.

1.) A repressive state apparatus is the use of fear as a tool to inspire conformity within a society. For example, in America we use the threat of an armed police force and a grossly neglected and brutal prison system to inspire fear of what may happen to somebody if they don’t follow our laws. In many cases, an individual may not even need to break a law to be under the constant threat of incarceration, such as the current militarization of ICE to wreak havoc on our immigrant population. These repressive apparatuses breed apathy, which is one of the greatest tools the capitalist system has to deter revolution in American society (in my opinion).

2.) An ideological state apparatus is the use of education and elected government to reinforce capitalist ideals in a “non-violent” way, although still being incredibly predatory. For example, the layout of an American classroom. The classroom revolves around the authoritative figure (the teacher) and only allows you to contribute to discussion after being called upon, reinforcing the ideals of capitalism and authoritarianism. If the rules of the classroom are not followed, then the student faces detention, a call home to parents, or even suspension/expulsion.

3.) Although repressive and ideological apparatuses both try to achieve the same goal, their methods differ. Repressive apparatuses are intended to inspire fear using violence to get people to conform, while ideological apparatuses are intended to reinforce the ideals of the system using non-violent methods.

4.)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKdFeZTnAK0&list=RDwKdFeZTnAK0&start_radio=1&ab_channel=TomMacDonald

The song “The Devil is a Democrat” by Tom MacDonald pushes the conservative ideological sentiment that the left is ruining America. This acts an ideological apparatus because it reinforces the notion that the left is inconsolably wrong and promotes far-right ideals. Tom MacDonald is a popular rapper and is active in the far-right MAGA scene, classifying his music as an entertainment apparatus.