SOC 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Profit Maximization, Bourgeoisie, Consumerism
Document Summary
Key changes in capitalism: labor, consumerism / debt. The corporation / not business as usual . Capitalist mode of production (how we produce not what we produce is central) Owners / bourgeoisie: possessed the means of production / capital. Workers / proletariat: sold labor for wages. Driven by the maximizing of profits / grow or die. Capital is money used to make more money. Power relations are more subtle in capitalism than in feudalism. Owners appear to give something to workers (rather than take), a contract between sovereign people. Owners maintain the upper hand (other workers are available) The key producer of wealth is the worker. Maximizing profit = lower wages, less workers, working harder. Work as central to life and who we are. Alienation: separation between the worker and their labour and all this entails. Loss of control over process, product and the surplus value created. Work in this system recreates economic inequality and dehumanizes work.
