Keywords available for encyclopedia entries: Alienation American Dream- Emma Dulaney Black Bourgeoisie-- Valentina Lopez-Cortes Blue Collar - Nate Olson Bourgeoisie Capitalism Class - Nathan Gruenberg Class as Social Process Class Consciousness - Blake Ladenburg Colonialism Corporate Community - Sam Jacobson Desegregation Distribution Division of Labor- Andrew Durand Economic Distribution Frontier Thesis - Sarah Edwards Gentrification - Jenny Gruenberg Hegemony - Nick Hochfeld Idealism Materialism Materialist Rhetoric The Network-- Andy Monserud Power Elite - Logan Miller Proletariat - Quinn Lincoln Real Estate Racism- Ione Fullerton Realism Rent Gap Social Class Socialism
American Dream -- Emma Dulaney The American Dream is a political ideology which justifies America’s competitive capitalistic and individualistic economy by equating upward mobility with labor and gumption.
The American Dream has been the hegemony of American culture since the birth of the country as put forth in the Constitution’s, “pursuit of happiness.” First popularized by historian James Adams in 1931, it signifies an equal playing field for citizens to gain social and economic capital.[1] The American Dream falls under the category Graber’s “condensation symbol”[2] and McGee’s “ideograph”[3] since it is laden with power and emotion, creates imagined communities, condones behavior, and is abstract.
American Dream discourse materially manifests itself in American culture in both the macro and the micro via policy and day-to-day action.[4] The myth of the American individualistic ethos is so hegemonic, working class Americans often vote in favor of economic policies benefitting the upper class, in belief they, too, will be rich one day. The American Dream influences class relations by stigmatizing the working class. By removing responsibility from the system and placing it on the individual, the American Dream creates a binary between the rich and poor in which the being poor is a lifestyle choice.[5] The American Dream creates a cultural ideology of class as a personal issue of inadequacy instead of a public one of access.[6]
Bibliography: Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972. Class Dismissed: How TV Frames The Working Class. Directed by Loretta Alper. Media Education Foundation, 2005. DVD. Cloud, Dana L. "Materiality of Discourse as Oxymoron: A Challenge to Critical Rhetoric." Western Journal of Communications 58.3 (1994): 141-63. Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America? 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Graber, Doris A. Verbal Behavior and Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976. Hanson, Sandra L. The American Dream in the 21st Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011. Hooks, Bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000. Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Penguin Books, 2006. Mcgee, Michael Calvin. "The “Ideograph”: A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology." Quarterly Journal of Speech: 1-16. Poulantzas, Nicos Ar. State, Power, Socialism. London: Verso, 2000. [1] Hanson, Sandra L. The American Dream in the 21st Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011: 1. [2]Graber, Doris A. Verbal Behavior and Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976. [3]McGee, Michael Calvin. "The “Ideograph”: A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology." Quarterly Journal of Speech: 1-16: 9. [4]Cloud, Dana L. "Materiality of Discourse as Oxymoron: A Challenge to Critical Rhetoric." Western Journal of Communications 58.3 (1994): 141-63: 145. [5]Class Dismissed: How TV Frames The Working Class. Directed by Loretta Alper. Media Education Foundation, 2005. DVD. [6]Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America? 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010: 123.
Black Bourgeoisie – Valentina Lopez-Cortes The Black Bourgeoisie are the African American upper class that, as E. Franklin Frazier describes, mediates between the white upper class and the poor blacks. The Bourgeoisie without a racial identifier, as Karl Marx’s focus in the “Communist Manifesto,” are characterized as intellectuals and professionals. Although racial solidarity and uplift is viewed as necessary, Frazier states that the Black Bourgeoisie is present because of it’s upward mobility only in comparison to the lower class African Americans. As this upper class is understood simply through economic gains bell hooks presents the intricacies of intersectionality in this class, where “the surrounding white supremacist would reminded all of us through exploitation and domination that even the richest black person could be crushed by racism’s heavyweight” (91). This intersectionality, or multiple forms of discrimination as expressed by Gibson-Graham, discredits monetary gain and its connection to status therefore placing importance on appearance, race, and it’s ability to supersede economic status and thus presenting the Black Bourgeoisie as unable to reach or “belong” in the upper class. Similar to how Hooks problematizes the Black Bourgeoisie and its representation of African American status within media the film “Class Dismissed” describes class as powerfully structured by social forces (72). Television shows, such as The Bill Cosby Show, depict whitewashed families that with all white upper class cultural, economic, and political markers that present determinants of class far from the true African American lifestyle. Adversely hooks’ idea of “selling blackness” which calls upon the commodification of poor blacks is currently understood by Robin R. Means Coleman as he studies commercialized perceptions of poor Black communities resulting from the Black Bourgeoisie feeding off their stereotypes and creating upward mobility only in reference to the lower class.
Bibliography- “Class Dismissed”.film. Coleman, Robin R. Means. "“The Gentrification of ‘Black’ Popular Communication inTheNewMillennium ”." Popular Communication, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015. <“The Gentrification of‘Black’ Popular Communication in theNew Millennium ”>. Frazier, E. Franklin. Black Bourgeoisie. Glencoe, IL: Free, 1957. Print. Gibson-Graham. "The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It)." University of Minnesota Press. N.p., n.d.Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-end-of-capitalism-as-we-knew-it>. Hooks, Bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print. Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, Friedrich Engels, and Ellen Meiksins. Wood.The Communist Manifesto. New York: Monthly Review, 1998. Print.
Blue Collar – Nate Olson The term blue collar refers to manual-labor workers who are employed in goods-producing industries, commonly manufacturing or mining (Gibson and Papa 68; Lucas 2). The term is frequently used synonymously with working-class as both terms refer to workers who perform physical labor for their wage (Lucas 5).
Blue collar is commonly used by academics when describing the shifting employment opportunities in the post-Fordist American economy, from blue collar jobs in manufacturing to white collar jobs in office settings (Lucas 2). It is also often encountered in descriptions of different economic and social classes, specifically as a subset of the lower class (Morton 45). Finally, there are studies that look at socialization in blue collar communities as a case study of socialization in broader society (Gibson and Papa 68; Lucas and Buzzanell 273; Lucas 1).
As blue collar jobs are losing frequency in the American economy the term is fast becoming obsolete for defining class distinctions. In contemporary literature, class distinctions are more commonly defined by income, wealth, or power rather than occupation itself (Class Dismissed; Who Rules America 8). Blue collar is better off as term defining a subset of the lower class than being a class definition itself.
Bibliography Domhoff, William. Who Rules America: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print. Class Dismissed. Dir. Loretta Alper. Film. Lucas, Kristen. “Discourses of downturn: Socializing blue-collar kids for postindustrial careers.” National Communication Association 2007: 1-34. Communication and Mass Media Complete. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Lucas, Kristen, and Patrice Buzzanell. “Blue-Collar Work, Career, and Success: Occupational Narratives of Sisu.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 32.4 (Nov. 2004): 273-292. EBSCOhost. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Gibson, Melissa, and Michael Papa. “The Mud, The Blood, and The Beer Guys: Organizational Osmosis in Blue-Collar Work Groups.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 28.1 (Feb. 2000): 68-88. EBSCOhost. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Morton, Linda. “Segmenting Social Classes: The Working Class.” Public Relations Quarterly 49.2 (2004): 45-47. Proquest. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Saldaña, Jonny. “Blue-Collar Qualitative Research: A Rant.” Qualitative Inquiry 20.8 (2014): 976-980. Sage. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Wickman, Forrest. “Working Man’s Blues: Why do we call manual laborers blue collar.” Slate 1 May 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Class – Nathan Gruenberg An objectively defined or subjectively identified social grouping (19, Gibson-Graham) . There is no conceptual framework for understanding class, thus it is dissected into three parts: Economic (income and accumulated wealth), Political (the power to influence the public and political process) Cultural (education, taste, lifestyle — cultural capital) (Class Dismissed).
Class provides the basic framework for understanding the motivations of individuals and how they interact with society; thus, it is used in both ancient and contemporary academic fields. Nasrin, Faranak, and Ali Akbar use social class to form a cultural bridge between Shanameh (national epic of Greater Iran ) and Mahabharata (one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India) (Mozafari, 2). Vandrick uses class to show how it plays a significant role in the field of english language teaching, by showing that scholars do not often examine the whole range of social class (high to low) or ways in which English language teaching (ELT) reproduces and reinforces privilege, or lack thereof (Vandrick, 1). Nasrin, Frank, and Ali Akbar modeled an ancient use of class, and Vandrick modeled a contemporary use of class.
Gibson-Graham suggest individuals may participate in multiple class processes at one moment over time. Therefore their class identities are individual, potentially multiple, and shifting (Gibson-Graham, 19).
Bibliography Class Dismissed. Dir. Loretta Alper. Perf. Barbara Ehrenreich, Herman Gray. Media Education Foundation, 2005. Digital file. Gibson-Graham, J.K. The End of Capitalism (As We Know It). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. Book. Mozafari, Nasrin, Siyanat, Faranak, Khansir, Ali Akbar. “Social Classes of People in Mahabharata and Shahnameh.” Language in India, 19302940, Jul2015, Vol. 15, Issue 7. Online Article. Oct. 21 2015. Vandrick, Stephanie. “The Role of Social Class in English Language Education.” Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 1532-7701. Online Article. Oct 21 2015.
Class-Consciousness -- Blake Ladenburg Class-consciousness is derived from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, and is defined generically as a process in which individuals develop an awareness of their position within society in relation to other individuals and power structures. In developing awareness individuals can effectually join the proletarian movement: increasing the movements strength, and the likelihood of more individuals gaining awareness of their material condition. [1]
Marx’s utilization of class-consciousness has faced criticism over time for lacking the ability to account for potential differences. Ernest van den Haag suggests that, “there often are conflicts among objective economic interests within a Marxian class — e.g. among workers.”[2] Not accounting for differences is why Leszek Kolakowski argues that the “theory of class consciousness is false,”and that movements resulting from Marx’s form of class-consciousness, in effect, advocate for totalitarianism.[3]
These criticisms have adapted how scholars utilize class-consciousness. Class-consciousness has been expanded beyond simply becoming aware to one’s material condition. bell hooks, for instance, advocates for an understanding of class-consciousness as a mechanism for expanding one’s personal understanding of their self: awareness that centers on shared experience not shared condition.[4]
References: [1] Marx, Karl. (1998). Communist Manifesto. New York: Signet Classics. 75. [2] Haag, Ernest van den. (1987). Marxism as Pseudo-Science. Fordham University Press: Reason Papers. No. 12, Spring 1987. 32. [3] Kolaskowski, Leszek. (1974). My Correct Views on Everything. The Social Register, 1974, pg. 1-20. [4 ]hooks, bell. (2000). where we stand: CLASS MATTERS. New York: Routledge. 118.
Further Reading: Curtis, Josh. (2013). Middle Class Identity in the Modern World: How Politics and Economics Matter. Canadian Review of Sociology: Vol. 50 Issue 2, pg.203-226. Domhoff, William (2014). Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. New York: McGraw-Hill. 43,72. Lukács, Georg. (1971). History & Class C onsciousness. Cambridge: MIT Press. Leistyna, P. (Director). (2005). Class Dismissed [Motion picture]. Media Education Foundation. 3:29. Mises, L., & Greaves, B. (2005). Theory and history: An interpretation of social and economic evolution. Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Fund.
Corporate Community – Sam Jacobson The interconnected corporate network created by an overlapping directorate is known as the corporate community (Domhoff, 24).
As an idea, the corporate community helps individuals come to understand links between a diverse range of corporations that are often difficult to see. The links that make up the corporate community are called “interlocks,” which take place when “a person sits on two or more corporate boards”-- this practice has become common place since the early 1900’s when the corporate community was first created (Davis, Domhoff 24, 27). Thus the emphasis on the idea of the corporate community, as established by its interlocks, falls on the word “community;” with some corporations having up to 45 interlocks or interpersonal connections with other companies (Domhoff, 31).
In some cases, if connections are broken “broken by death, retirement,” or a falling out, they do not always get restored due to the interpersonal nature of the corporate community but instead form anew somewhere else (Domhoff). In recognizing the fluidity of corporate community’s interlocks, its wide scope of influence, and the relative anonymity of the individuals who comprise it, one begins to understand why the connections between corporations are so difficult to see.
Bibliography: Domhoff, William. Who Rules America: Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2010. Print. Marx, Karl. "Communist Manifesto." Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Ed. Lawrence Simon. Hackett, 1994. 157-186. Print. Koenig, Thomas, and Robert Gogel. "Interlocking Corporate Directorships As A Social Network." American Journal Of Economics & Sociology 40.1 (1981): 37-50. Business Source Premier. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Domhoff, G. William. "Who Rules America: The Corporate Community."Who Rules America: The Corporate Community. University of Sata Cruz. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. Davis, Gerald. "The Significance of Board Interlocks for Corporate Governance." Web. 22 Oct. 2015. They Rule. 2001. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. http://theyrule.net/drupal/
Division of Labor – Andrew Durand The process by which machinery and technological advancements remove the individual quality of labor and integrate workers into a broader process of production (Smith).
Marx explains the division of labor reduces the worker to, “an appendage of the machine” (Marx 164). The most common example of the division of labor is the Fordist assembly line, where each worker is responsible for completing one component of a larger product. Neil Smith uses the division of labor to describe the suburbanization of the United States, “the recombination of these separate activities […] required more space” (Smith 82). Because one person is not responsible for one product, the factory was forced to become larger in order to accommodate more assembly line oriented production methods. The increase in space required by the new factory size forced a migration to new suburban areas.
Gramsci expands the idea of a division of labor to describe the changing role of the ideal industrial worker. No longer is the ideal worker a craftsman, instead, the ideal worker is the most mechanized worker, most suited to become a cog in the machine (Gramsci 309). The division of labor affects both industrial processes and the qualitative assessment of worker value.
Bibliography Butler, Judith. "Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street." The State of Things. Venice. 7 Sept. 2011. Lecture. Friedman, Milton, and Rose D. Friedman. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. Mariner, 1990. Print. Gramsci, Antonio, and Quintin Hoare. "Americanism and Fordism." Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. New York: International, 1972. Print. Marx, Karl, and Lawrence Hugh Simon. "Communist Manifesto." Selected Writings. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994. Print. Smith, Neil. "Toward a Theory of Uneven Development." Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space. New York: Blackwell, 1984. Print. Smith, Neil. "Global Arguments Uneven Development." The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. London: Routledge, 1996. Print. Weeks, Kathi. "Life Within and Against Work: Affective Labor, Feminist Critique, and Post-Fordist Politics." Ephemera 7.1 (2007): 233-49. Print.
Frontier Thesis – Sarah Edwards In 1893 Fredrick Jackson Turner defined the frontier as “the meeting point between savagery and civilization” that expands and tames previously “unlivable” spaces, forging American democracy and identity in the process.[1]
While the Western frontier has officially closed, this process of constantly forging and reforming national identity is embodied within the Frontier Thesis. Turner’s thesis is thus studied within a rhetorical context because of its mythical significance and perpetuation of a distinct “frontiersman” identity.[2] This individualism is utilized across historical contexts to “rationalize and legitimize a process of conquest.”[3] This process can be also employed within a modern capitalist context, as when Smith utilizes the frontier to explain the process of gentrification by arguing that new urban city is where both space and identity are being conquered.[4]
Some scholars have criticized this modern application by contrasting urban cities and industry with free flowing individualism.[5] However, others have also expanded the Frontier Thesis to include the realm of intellectual space of scientific discovery as well as the physical realm of outer space.[6]
References: 1 Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893,” Western Historical Society, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf. 2 Ronald H. Carpenter, “Frederick Jackson Turner and the Rhetorical Impact of the Frontier Thesis,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (2015): 120. 3 Neil Smith, The New Urban Frontier, New York: Routledge, 1996: Preface. 4 Smith, The New Urban Frontier, Preface. 5 Janice Hocker Rushing, “Mythic Evolution of ‘The New Frontier’ in Mass Mediated Rhetoric,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 2, no. 3, 1986: 266. 6 John Lynch, “On the Frontier of Science: An American Rhetoric of Exploration and Exploitation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 101, no. 3, 2015: 560.
Bibliography: Carpenter, Ronald H. “Frederick Jackson Turner and the Rhetorical Impact of the Frontier Thesis.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63, 1977: 117-129. Coleman, William. “Science and Symbol in the Turner Frontier Hypothesis.” The American Historical Review 72, no. 1, 1966: 22-49. Lynch, John. “On The Frontier of Science: An American Rhetoric of Exploration and Exploitation.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 101, no. 3, 2015: 559-584. Rushing, Janice Hocker. “Mythic Evolution of ‘The New Frontier’ in Mass Mediated Rhetoric.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 3, no. 3, 1986: 265-296. Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print. Turner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893.” Wisconsin Historical Society, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf. Williams, Appleman William. “The Frontier Thesis and American Foreign Policy.” Pacific Historical Review 24, no. 4, 1955: 379-395.
Gentrification – Jenny Gruenberg In 1964, Ruth Glass defined gentrification through her observation that “working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class” and described it as a process that continues until all, “the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed” (Glass xvii).
Gentrification is used by academics to label the classist process of urban “renewal” (Smith 30). While the act of gentrification is clear, its origin and rhetorical purpose are disputed in academia (Bridge 205). While Smith points to the accumulation of capital in the urban land market and the implementation of the rent gap (21), other scholars cite the cultural capital of the middle class and their desire to preserve historical urban buildings as well as the fact that the city has historically been the location of post-industrial service jobs (Bridge 205).
Modern scholars have noted how gentrification, both the term and its literature, has become gentrified (Wacquant 198, Smith 31). Gentrification, as a product of capitalism and neoliberalism, has also become globalized as “an urban strategy” (Davidson 492). Even previously gentrified areas are becoming regentrified due to the social and geographical scale of urban cities (Butler & Lees 467).
Bibliography Bridge, Gary. “Bourdieu, Rational Action and the Time-Space Strategy of Gentrification.”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2001), pp. 205-216 Butler, Tim and Loretta Lees. “Super-Gentrification in Barnsbury, London: Globalization and Gentrifying Global Elites at the Neighbourhood Level” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. New Series, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 467-487 Butler, Tim and G. Robson. “Negotiating their way in: the middle classes, gentrification and their deployment of capital in a globalizing metropolis.” Urban Studies. Vol. 40 (2003), pp.1791-809. Davidson, Mark. “Gentrification as a global habitat: a process of class formation or corporate creation?” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers New Series, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Oct., 2007), pp. 490-506. Glass, Ruth. London: aspects of change. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1964. Print. Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1990. Print. Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the revanchist city. New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. Print. Wacquant, Löic. “Relocating Gentrification: The Working Class, Science and the State in Recent Urban Research.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Vol. 32.1 (March 2008), pp.198-205).
Hegemony Domhoff defines hegemony as the function of government: “regulating what goes on within the territories they govern.” Governments are responsible for enforcing the laws, economy, and social norms of the state’s populace. It is necessary for the power of the upperclass due to the government’s economic function. “Domination of the federal government on domestic and international issues is vital for the corporate community.”1
Foucault engages with hegemony as the biopolitical regulation of the population. To support national interest, the state must “regulate the life of its subjects”, “regulate their economic activity, their production.” Here, hegemony represents the state’s control over the lives of the populace.2
Glen Sean Coulthard extends the definition as the process of leadership and domination by the state over its people “not through force alone”, but through “the specific modes of colonial thought, desire, and behavior that implicitly or explicitly commit the colonized to the types of practices and subject positions that are required for their continued domination.” Hegemony is the extension of colonial domination through economic and social coercion by the state over the lives of the population. 3
Bibliography Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America?: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 164. Foucault, Michel. The Birth of Biopolitics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 7. Coulthard, S. Glen Red Skin White Masks. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 16.
Real Estate Racism – Ione Fullerton Real estate racism describes the process by which governments and their agents work to remove black individuals from spaces so that white, middle class individuals may occupy them.
Bell hooks personally experienced this concept when seeking real estate. The real estate market is dominated by white agents who racially discriminate (hooks 132). Her race was mobilized as a negating factor when a board considered her as a building resident (hooks 132). White residents told her blacks males that may visit her were not acceptable individuals for the building space (hooks 133). Smith situates real estate racism in public space, when policemen physically removed primarily African American Tompkins Square Park users and residents, and then the city government closed and reconstructed the park (5). Liu challenges neoliberal forces by arguing that states institutionalize violence because they are complicit in urban crises, which are political and economic crises (717).
To combat sensing racial exclusivity of spaces, Williams, Qualls, and Grier suggest that public policymakers create racially inclusive real estate advertising (236). Inclusive advertising had a positive effect on black individuals in their study (Williams, Qualls, Grier 236), which might work to relieve the aspect of real estate racism in advertising space.
Bibliography hooks, bell. where we stand: class matters. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print. Liu, Laura Y. “Counterhegenomy and Context: Racial Crisis, Warfare, and Real Estate in the Neoliberal City.” Urban Geography 16 May 2013: 714-721. Print. Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print. Williams, Jerome D., William J. Qualls, Sonya A. Grier. “Racially Exclusive Real Estate Advertising: Public Policy Implications for Fair Housing Practices.” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing 1995: 225-244. Print.
Policy-Shaping Network – Andy Monserud William Domhoff uses the term “policy-shaping network” to describe the wide variety of think tanks, foundations and discussion groups interested in informing and manipulating American public policy. Domhoff describes this network as an arm of the power elite, saying that “the policy-planning process begins in corporate boardrooms, social clubs, and informal discussions, where problems are identified as ‘issues’ to be solved by new policies” (Domhoff 87). He describes the foundations that donate to various policy-planning entities and advocacy initiatives as “an upper-class adaptation to inheritance and income taxes” which allow the corporate elite and other wealthy people to retain control over their tax dollars (Domhoff 88).
Other scholars are more skeptical of the cohesiveness of this network. In his book “Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes,” Donald Abelson claims that Domhoff is too eager to ascribe a single purpose to think tanks. The United States was home to over 1,600 think tanks at the turn of the millennium, and many of these, notably the Institute for Policy Studies, have opposed corporate interests over the years (Abelson 17, 28). Domhoff points out, however, that even these have corporate connections, and that they are not nearly as successful as their more “business-friendly” counterparts (Domhoff 113). Meanwhile, Murray Weidenbaum suggests that the material impact of think tanks on policy varies widely and is nearly immeasurable, making the effectiveness of the “network” dubious (Weidenbaum 134, 136). The network undoubtedly exists, but its establishment as an impenetrable institution is hotly debated.
Bibliography: Abelson, Donald E.. Do Think Tanks Matter? : Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes. Montreal, QC, CAN: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 20 October 2015. Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America? 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print. Weidenbaum, Murray. “Measuring the Influence of Think Tanks.” Society 47.2 (2010): 134-137. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2015. Selee, Andrew. What Should Think Tanks Do? : A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact. Palo Alto, CA, USA: Stanford University Press, 2013. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 October 2015. Smith, James Allen. Brookings at Seventy-five. Washington, D.C.: Institution, 1991. Print.
Proletariat – Quinn Lincoln The “Proletariat” refers to a class of persons in a society that do not own any means of production and sell their labor for wages as a means for survival.
While the “proletariat” can simply be used synonymously with the “working class,” contextually, the proletariat was the working class during the industrial revolution when the bourgeois controlled all means of production and laborers were forced to work as wage laborers [1]. It marked the first time in history that laborers did not work to create a product but rather worked for a wage.
Other than the simplest definition meaning “working class,” “proletariat” holds less and less significance to the modern society in spite of Marx’s relevant strategies[2]. The nature of the Mark’s proletariat changes based on the circumstances in which it appeared[3]. As the term was born out of the industrial revolution, it would make sense that it would lose significance as society progressed. In modern society the “proletariat” should be considered a subset of the working class, specifically the subset of unskilled laborers. The key feature of the proletariat is their continued marginalization, as in Marx’s victory at the First International Working Men’s Association, or as seen in New Urban Frontier [4].
Alienation
American Dream- Emma Dulaney
Black Bourgeoisie-- Valentina Lopez-Cortes
Blue Collar - Nate Olson
Bourgeoisie
Capitalism
Class - Nathan Gruenberg
Class as Social Process
Class Consciousness - Blake Ladenburg
Colonialism
Corporate Community - Sam Jacobson
Desegregation
Distribution
Division of Labor- Andrew Durand
Economic Distribution
Frontier Thesis - Sarah Edwards
Gentrification - Jenny Gruenberg
Hegemony - Nick Hochfeld
Idealism
Materialism
Materialist Rhetoric
The Network-- Andy Monserud
Power Elite - Logan Miller
Proletariat - Quinn Lincoln
Real Estate Racism- Ione Fullerton
Realism
Rent Gap
Social Class
Socialism
American Dream -- Emma Dulaney
The American Dream is a political ideology which justifies America’s competitive capitalistic and individualistic economy by equating upward mobility with labor and gumption.
The American Dream has been the hegemony of American culture since the birth of the country as put forth in the Constitution’s, “pursuit of happiness.” First popularized by historian James Adams in 1931, it signifies an equal playing field for citizens to gain social and economic capital.[1] The American Dream falls under the category Graber’s “condensation symbol”[2] and McGee’s “ideograph”[3] since it is laden with power and emotion, creates imagined communities, condones behavior, and is abstract.
American Dream discourse materially manifests itself in American culture in both the macro and the micro via policy and day-to-day action.[4] The myth of the American individualistic ethos is so hegemonic, working class Americans often vote in favor of economic policies benefitting the upper class, in belief they, too, will be rich one day. The American Dream influences class relations by stigmatizing the working class. By removing responsibility from the system and placing it on the individual, the American Dream creates a binary between the rich and poor in which the being poor is a lifestyle choice.[5] The American Dream creates a cultural ideology of class as a personal issue of inadequacy instead of a public one of access.[6]
Bibliography:
Barthes, Roland. Mythologies. Translated by Annette Lavers. New York: Hill and Wang, 1972.
Class Dismissed: How TV Frames The Working Class. Directed by Loretta Alper. Media Education Foundation, 2005. DVD.
Cloud, Dana L. "Materiality of Discourse as Oxymoron: A Challenge to Critical Rhetoric." Western Journal of Communications 58.3 (1994): 141-63.
Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America? 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010.
Graber, Doris A. Verbal Behavior and Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976.
Hanson, Sandra L. The American Dream in the 21st Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011.
Hooks, Bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York, NY: Routledge, 2000.
Marx, Karl, and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto. New York: Penguin Books, 2006.
Mcgee, Michael Calvin. "The “Ideograph”: A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology." Quarterly Journal of Speech: 1-16.
Poulantzas, Nicos Ar. State, Power, Socialism. London: Verso, 2000.
[1] Hanson, Sandra L. The American Dream in the 21st Century. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011: 1.
[2]Graber, Doris A. Verbal Behavior and Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976.
[3]McGee, Michael Calvin. "The “Ideograph”: A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology." Quarterly Journal of Speech: 1-16: 9.
[4]Cloud, Dana L. "Materiality of Discourse as Oxymoron: A Challenge to Critical Rhetoric." Western Journal of Communications 58.3 (1994): 141-63: 145.
[5]Class Dismissed: How TV Frames The Working Class. Directed by Loretta Alper. Media Education Foundation, 2005. DVD.
[6]Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America? 6th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010: 123.
Black Bourgeoisie – Valentina Lopez-Cortes
The Black Bourgeoisie are the African American upper class that, as E. Franklin Frazier describes, mediates between the white upper class and the poor blacks. The Bourgeoisie without a racial identifier, as Karl Marx’s focus in the “Communist Manifesto,” are characterized as intellectuals and professionals. Although racial solidarity and uplift is viewed as necessary, Frazier states that the Black Bourgeoisie is present because of it’s upward mobility only in comparison to the lower class African Americans. As this upper class is understood simply through economic gains bell hooks presents the intricacies of intersectionality in this class, where “the surrounding white supremacist would reminded all of us through exploitation and domination that even the richest black person could be crushed by racism’s heavyweight” (91). This intersectionality, or multiple forms of discrimination as expressed by Gibson-Graham, discredits monetary gain and its connection to status therefore placing importance on appearance, race, and it’s ability to supersede economic status and thus presenting the Black Bourgeoisie as unable to reach or “belong” in the upper class. Similar to how Hooks problematizes the Black Bourgeoisie and its representation of African American status within media the film “Class Dismissed” describes class as powerfully structured by social forces (72). Television shows, such as The Bill Cosby Show, depict whitewashed families that with all white upper class cultural, economic, and political markers that present determinants of class far from the true African American lifestyle. Adversely hooks’ idea of “selling blackness” which calls upon the commodification of poor blacks is currently understood by Robin R. Means Coleman as he studies commercialized perceptions of poor Black communities resulting from the Black Bourgeoisie feeding off their stereotypes and creating upward mobility only in reference to the lower class.
Bibliography-
“Class Dismissed”.film.
Coleman, Robin R. Means. "“The Gentrification of ‘Black’ Popular Communication inTheNewMillennium ”." Popular Communication, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2015. <“The Gentrification of‘Black’ Popular Communication in theNew Millennium ”>.
Frazier, E. Franklin. Black Bourgeoisie. Glencoe, IL: Free, 1957. Print.
Gibson-Graham. "The End of Capitalism (As We Knew It)." University of Minnesota Press. N.p., n.d.Web. 18 Oct. 2015. <http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-end-of-capitalism-as-we-knew-it>.
Hooks, Bell. Where We Stand: Class Matters. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Marx, Karl, Friedrich Engels, Friedrich Engels, and Ellen Meiksins. Wood.The Communist Manifesto. New York: Monthly Review, 1998. Print.
Blue Collar – Nate Olson
The term blue collar refers to manual-labor workers who are employed in goods-producing industries, commonly manufacturing or mining (Gibson and Papa 68; Lucas 2). The term is frequently used synonymously with working-class as both terms refer to workers who perform physical labor for their wage (Lucas 5).
Blue collar is commonly used by academics when describing the shifting employment opportunities in the post-Fordist American economy, from blue collar jobs in manufacturing to white collar jobs in office settings (Lucas 2). It is also often encountered in descriptions of different economic and social classes, specifically as a subset of the lower class (Morton 45). Finally, there are studies that look at socialization in blue collar communities as a case study of socialization in broader society (Gibson and Papa 68; Lucas and Buzzanell 273; Lucas 1).
As blue collar jobs are losing frequency in the American economy the term is fast becoming obsolete for defining class distinctions. In contemporary literature, class distinctions are more commonly defined by income, wealth, or power rather than occupation itself (Class Dismissed; Who Rules America 8). Blue collar is better off as term defining a subset of the lower class than being a class definition itself.
Bibliography
Domhoff, William. Who Rules America: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2014. Print.
Class Dismissed. Dir. Loretta Alper. Film.
Lucas, Kristen. “Discourses of downturn: Socializing blue-collar kids for postindustrial careers.” National Communication Association 2007: 1-34. Communication and Mass Media Complete. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Lucas, Kristen, and Patrice Buzzanell. “Blue-Collar Work, Career, and Success: Occupational Narratives of Sisu.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 32.4 (Nov. 2004): 273-292. EBSCOhost. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Gibson, Melissa, and Michael Papa. “The Mud, The Blood, and The Beer Guys: Organizational Osmosis in Blue-Collar Work Groups.” Journal of Applied Communication Research 28.1 (Feb. 2000): 68-88. EBSCOhost. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Morton, Linda. “Segmenting Social Classes: The Working Class.” Public Relations Quarterly 49.2 (2004): 45-47. Proquest. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Saldaña, Jonny. “Blue-Collar Qualitative Research: A Rant.” Qualitative Inquiry 20.8 (2014): 976-980. Sage. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Wickman, Forrest. “Working Man’s Blues: Why do we call manual laborers blue collar.” Slate 1 May 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Class – Nathan Gruenberg
An objectively defined or subjectively identified social grouping (19, Gibson-Graham) . There is no conceptual framework for understanding class, thus it is dissected into three parts: Economic (income and accumulated wealth), Political (the power to influence the public and political process) Cultural (education, taste, lifestyle — cultural capital) (Class Dismissed).
Class provides the basic framework for understanding the motivations of individuals and how they interact with society; thus, it is used in both ancient and contemporary academic fields. Nasrin, Faranak, and Ali Akbar use social class to form a cultural bridge between Shanameh (national epic of Greater Iran ) and Mahabharata (one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India) (Mozafari, 2). Vandrick uses class to show how it plays a significant role in the field of english language teaching, by showing that scholars do not often examine the whole range of social class (high to low) or ways in which English language teaching (ELT) reproduces and reinforces privilege, or lack thereof (Vandrick, 1). Nasrin, Frank, and Ali Akbar modeled an ancient use of class, and Vandrick modeled a contemporary use of class.
Gibson-Graham suggest individuals may participate in multiple class processes at one moment over time. Therefore their class identities are individual, potentially multiple, and shifting (Gibson-Graham, 19).
Bibliography
Class Dismissed. Dir. Loretta Alper. Perf. Barbara Ehrenreich, Herman Gray. Media Education Foundation, 2005. Digital file.
Gibson-Graham, J.K. The End of Capitalism (As We Know It). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2006. Book.
Mozafari, Nasrin, Siyanat, Faranak, Khansir, Ali Akbar. “Social Classes of People in Mahabharata and Shahnameh.” Language in India, 19302940, Jul2015, Vol. 15, Issue 7. Online Article. Oct. 21 2015.
Vandrick, Stephanie. “The Role of Social Class in English Language Education.” Journal of Language, Identity, and Education. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group. 1532-7701. Online Article. Oct 21 2015.
Class-Consciousness -- Blake Ladenburg
Class-consciousness is derived from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto, and is defined generically as a process in which individuals develop an awareness of their position within society in relation to other individuals and power structures. In developing awareness individuals can effectually join the proletarian movement: increasing the movements strength, and the likelihood of more individuals gaining awareness of their material condition. [1]
Marx’s utilization of class-consciousness has faced criticism over time for lacking the ability to account for potential differences. Ernest van den Haag suggests that, “there often are conflicts among objective economic interests within a Marxian class — e.g. among workers.”[2] Not accounting for differences is why Leszek Kolakowski argues that the “theory of class consciousness is false,”and that movements resulting from Marx’s form of class-consciousness, in effect, advocate for totalitarianism.[3]
These criticisms have adapted how scholars utilize class-consciousness. Class-consciousness has been expanded beyond simply becoming aware to one’s material condition. bell hooks, for instance, advocates for an understanding of class-consciousness as a mechanism for expanding one’s personal understanding of their self: awareness that centers on shared experience not shared condition.[4]
References:
[1] Marx, Karl. (1998). Communist Manifesto. New York: Signet Classics. 75.
[2] Haag, Ernest van den. (1987). Marxism as Pseudo-Science. Fordham University
Press: Reason Papers. No. 12, Spring 1987. 32.
[3] Kolaskowski, Leszek. (1974). My Correct Views on Everything. The Social Register, 1974, pg. 1-20.
[4 ]hooks, bell. (2000). where we stand: CLASS MATTERS. New York: Routledge. 118.
Further Reading:
Curtis, Josh. (2013). Middle Class Identity in the Modern World: How Politics and Economics Matter. Canadian Review of Sociology: Vol. 50 Issue 2, pg.203-226.
Domhoff, William (2014). Who Rules America? The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. New York: McGraw-Hill. 43,72.
Lukács, Georg. (1971). History & Class C onsciousness. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Leistyna, P. (Director). (2005). Class Dismissed [Motion picture]. Media Education Foundation. 3:29.
Mises, L., & Greaves, B. (2005). Theory and history: An interpretation of social and economic evolution. Indianapolis, Ind.: Liberty Fund.
Corporate Community – Sam Jacobson
The interconnected corporate network created by an overlapping directorate is known as the corporate community (Domhoff, 24).
As an idea, the corporate community helps individuals come to understand links between a diverse range of corporations that are often difficult to see. The links that make up the corporate community are called “interlocks,” which take place when “a person sits on two or more corporate boards”-- this practice has become common place since the early 1900’s when the corporate community was first created (Davis, Domhoff 24, 27). Thus the emphasis on the idea of the corporate community, as established by its interlocks, falls on the word “community;” with some corporations having up to 45 interlocks or interpersonal connections with other companies (Domhoff, 31).
In some cases, if connections are broken “broken by death, retirement,” or a falling out, they do not always get restored due to the interpersonal nature of the corporate community but instead form anew somewhere else (Domhoff). In recognizing the fluidity of corporate community’s interlocks, its wide scope of influence, and the relative anonymity of the individuals who comprise it, one begins to understand why the connections between corporations are so difficult to see.
Bibliography:
Domhoff, William. Who Rules America: Challenges to Corporate and Class Dominance. 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2010. Print.
Marx, Karl. "Communist Manifesto." Karl Marx: Selected Writings. Ed. Lawrence Simon. Hackett, 1994. 157-186. Print.
Koenig, Thomas, and Robert Gogel. "Interlocking Corporate Directorships As A Social Network." American Journal Of Economics & Sociology 40.1 (1981): 37-50. Business Source Premier. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Domhoff, G. William. "Who Rules America: The Corporate Community."Who Rules America: The Corporate Community. University of Sata Cruz. Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
Davis, Gerald. "The Significance of Board Interlocks for Corporate Governance." Web. 22 Oct. 2015.
They Rule. 2001. Web. 22 Oct. 2015. http://theyrule.net/drupal/
Division of Labor – Andrew Durand
The process by which machinery and technological advancements remove the individual quality of labor and integrate workers into a broader process of production (Smith).
Marx explains the division of labor reduces the worker to, “an appendage of the machine” (Marx 164). The most common example of the division of labor is the Fordist assembly line, where each worker is responsible for completing one component of a larger product. Neil Smith uses the division of labor to describe the suburbanization of the United States, “the recombination of these separate activities […] required more space” (Smith 82). Because one person is not responsible for one product, the factory was forced to become larger in order to accommodate more assembly line oriented production methods. The increase in space required by the new factory size forced a migration to new suburban areas.
Gramsci expands the idea of a division of labor to describe the changing role of the ideal industrial worker. No longer is the ideal worker a craftsman, instead, the ideal worker is the most mechanized worker, most suited to become a cog in the machine (Gramsci 309). The division of labor affects both industrial processes and the qualitative assessment of worker value.
Bibliography
Butler, Judith. "Bodies in Alliance and the Politics of the Street." The State of Things. Venice. 7 Sept. 2011. Lecture.
Friedman, Milton, and Rose D. Friedman. Free to Choose: A Personal Statement. Mariner, 1990. Print.
Gramsci, Antonio, and Quintin Hoare. "Americanism and Fordism." Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci. New York:
International, 1972. Print.
Marx, Karl, and Lawrence Hugh Simon. "Communist Manifesto." Selected Writings. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1994. Print.
Smith, Neil. "Toward a Theory of Uneven Development." Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space. New York: Blackwell, 1984. Print.
Smith, Neil. "Global Arguments Uneven Development." The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City. London: Routledge, 1996. Print.
Weeks, Kathi. "Life Within and Against Work: Affective Labor, Feminist Critique, and Post-Fordist Politics." Ephemera 7.1 (2007): 233-49. Print.
Frontier Thesis – Sarah Edwards
In 1893 Fredrick Jackson Turner defined the frontier as “the meeting point between savagery and civilization” that expands and tames previously “unlivable” spaces, forging American democracy and identity in the process.[1]
While the Western frontier has officially closed, this process of constantly forging and reforming national identity is embodied within the Frontier Thesis. Turner’s thesis is thus studied within a rhetorical context because of its mythical significance and perpetuation of a distinct “frontiersman” identity.[2] This individualism is utilized across historical contexts to “rationalize and legitimize a process of conquest.”[3] This process can be also employed within a modern capitalist context, as when Smith utilizes the frontier to explain the process of gentrification by arguing that new urban city is where both space and identity are being conquered.[4]
Some scholars have criticized this modern application by contrasting urban cities and industry with free flowing individualism.[5] However, others have also expanded the Frontier Thesis to include the realm of intellectual space of scientific discovery as well as the physical realm of outer space.[6]
References:
1 Frederick Jackson Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893,” Western Historical Society, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf.
2 Ronald H. Carpenter, “Frederick Jackson Turner and the Rhetorical Impact of the Frontier Thesis,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63 (2015): 120.
3 Neil Smith, The New Urban Frontier, New York: Routledge, 1996: Preface.
4 Smith, The New Urban Frontier, Preface.
5 Janice Hocker Rushing, “Mythic Evolution of ‘The New Frontier’ in Mass Mediated Rhetoric,” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 2, no. 3, 1986: 266.
6 John Lynch, “On the Frontier of Science: An American Rhetoric of Exploration and Exploitation,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 101, no. 3, 2015: 560.
Bibliography:
Carpenter, Ronald H. “Frederick Jackson Turner and the Rhetorical Impact of the Frontier Thesis.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 63, 1977: 117-129.
Coleman, William. “Science and Symbol in the Turner Frontier Hypothesis.” The American Historical Review 72, no. 1, 1966: 22-49.
Lynch, John. “On The Frontier of Science: An American Rhetoric of Exploration and Exploitation.” Quarterly Journal of Speech 101, no. 3, 2015: 559-584.
Rushing, Janice Hocker. “Mythic Evolution of ‘The New Frontier’ in Mass Mediated Rhetoric.” Critical Studies in Mass Communication 3, no. 3, 1986: 265-296.
Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print.
Turner, Frederick Jackson. “The Significance of the Frontier in American History 1893.” Wisconsin Historical Society, http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/gilded/empire/text1/turner.pdf.
Williams, Appleman William. “The Frontier Thesis and American Foreign Policy.” Pacific Historical Review 24, no. 4, 1955: 379-395.
Gentrification – Jenny Gruenberg
In 1964, Ruth Glass defined gentrification through her observation that “working class quarters have been invaded by the middle class” and described it as a process that continues until all, “the working class occupiers are displaced and the whole social character of the district is changed” (Glass xvii).
Gentrification is used by academics to label the classist process of urban “renewal” (Smith 30). While the act of gentrification is clear, its origin and rhetorical purpose are disputed in academia (Bridge 205). While Smith points to the accumulation of capital in the urban land market and the implementation of the rent gap (21), other scholars cite the cultural capital of the middle class and their desire to preserve historical urban buildings as well as the fact that the city has historically been the location of post-industrial service jobs (Bridge 205).
Modern scholars have noted how gentrification, both the term and its literature, has become gentrified (Wacquant 198, Smith 31). Gentrification, as a product of capitalism and neoliberalism, has also become globalized as “an urban strategy” (Davidson 492). Even previously gentrified areas are becoming regentrified due to the social and geographical scale of urban cities (Butler & Lees 467).
Bibliography
Bridge, Gary. “Bourdieu, Rational Action and the Time-Space Strategy of Gentrification.”Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2001), pp. 205-216
Butler, Tim and Loretta Lees. “Super-Gentrification in Barnsbury, London: Globalization and Gentrifying Global Elites at the Neighbourhood Level” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. New Series, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 2006), pp. 467-487
Butler, Tim and G. Robson. “Negotiating their way in: the middle classes, gentrification and their deployment of capital in a globalizing metropolis.” Urban Studies. Vol. 40 (2003), pp.1791-809.
Davidson, Mark. “Gentrification as a global habitat: a process of class formation or corporate creation?” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers
New Series, Vol. 32, No. 4 (Oct., 2007), pp. 490-506.
Glass, Ruth. London: aspects of change. London: MacGibbon & Kee, 1964. Print.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1990. Print.
Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the revanchist city. New York, NY: Routledge, 1996. Print.
Wacquant, Löic. “Relocating Gentrification: The Working Class, Science and the State in Recent Urban Research.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Vol. 32.1 (March 2008), pp.198-205).
Hegemony
Domhoff defines hegemony as the function of government: “regulating what goes on within the territories they govern.” Governments are responsible for enforcing the laws, economy, and social norms of the state’s populace. It is necessary for the power of the upperclass due to the government’s economic function. “Domination of the federal government on domestic and international issues is vital for the corporate community.”1
Foucault engages with hegemony as the biopolitical regulation of the population. To support national interest, the state must “regulate the life of its subjects”, “regulate their economic activity, their production.” Here, hegemony represents the state’s control over the lives of the populace.2
Glen Sean Coulthard extends the definition as the process of leadership and domination by the state over its people “not through force alone”, but through “the specific modes of colonial thought, desire, and behavior that implicitly or explicitly commit the colonized to the types of practices and subject positions that are required for their continued domination.” Hegemony is the extension of colonial domination through economic and social coercion by the state over the lives of the population. 3
Bibliography
Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America?: The Triumph of the Corporate Rich. New York: McGraw-Hill Education. 164.
Foucault, Michel. The Birth of Biopolitics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 7.
Coulthard, S. Glen Red Skin White Masks. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. 16.
Real Estate Racism – Ione Fullerton
Real estate racism describes the process by which governments and their agents work to remove black individuals from spaces so that white, middle class individuals may occupy them.
Bell hooks personally experienced this concept when seeking real estate. The real estate market is dominated by white agents who racially discriminate (hooks 132). Her race was mobilized as a negating factor when a board considered her as a building resident (hooks 132). White residents told her blacks males that may visit her were not acceptable individuals for the building space (hooks 133). Smith situates real estate racism in public space, when policemen physically removed primarily African American Tompkins Square Park users and residents, and then the city government closed and reconstructed the park (5). Liu challenges neoliberal forces by arguing that states institutionalize violence because they are complicit in urban crises, which are political and economic crises (717).
To combat sensing racial exclusivity of spaces, Williams, Qualls, and Grier suggest that public policymakers create racially inclusive real estate advertising (236). Inclusive advertising had a positive effect on black individuals in their study (Williams, Qualls, Grier 236), which might work to relieve the aspect of real estate racism in advertising space.
Bibliography
hooks, bell. where we stand: class matters. New York: Routledge, 2000. Print.
Liu, Laura Y. “Counterhegenomy and Context: Racial Crisis, Warfare, and Real Estate in the
Neoliberal City.” Urban Geography 16 May 2013: 714-721. Print.
Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier. New York: Routledge, 1996. Print.
Williams, Jerome D., William J. Qualls, Sonya A. Grier. “Racially Exclusive Real Estate
Advertising: Public Policy Implications for Fair Housing Practices.” Journal of Public
Policy & Marketing 1995: 225-244. Print.
Policy-Shaping Network – Andy Monserud
William Domhoff uses the term “policy-shaping network” to describe the wide variety of think tanks, foundations and discussion groups interested in informing and manipulating American public policy. Domhoff describes this network as an arm of the power elite, saying that “the policy-planning process begins in corporate boardrooms, social clubs, and informal discussions, where problems are identified as ‘issues’ to be solved by new policies” (Domhoff 87). He describes the foundations that donate to various policy-planning entities and advocacy initiatives as “an upper-class adaptation to inheritance and income taxes” which allow the corporate elite and other wealthy people to retain control over their tax dollars (Domhoff 88).
Other scholars are more skeptical of the cohesiveness of this network. In his book “Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes,” Donald Abelson claims that Domhoff is too eager to ascribe a single purpose to think tanks. The United States was home to over 1,600 think tanks at the turn of the millennium, and many of these, notably the Institute for Policy Studies, have opposed corporate interests over the years (Abelson 17, 28). Domhoff points out, however, that even these have corporate connections, and that they are not nearly as successful as their more “business-friendly” counterparts (Domhoff 113). Meanwhile, Murray Weidenbaum suggests that the material impact of think tanks on policy varies widely and is nearly immeasurable, making the effectiveness of the “network” dubious (Weidenbaum 134, 136). The network undoubtedly exists, but its establishment as an impenetrable institution is hotly debated.
Bibliography:
Abelson, Donald E.. Do Think Tanks Matter? : Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes. Montreal, QC, CAN: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 20 October 2015.
Domhoff, G. William. Who Rules America? 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
Weidenbaum, Murray. “Measuring the Influence of Think Tanks.” Society 47.2 (2010): 134-137. Academic Search Premier. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.
Selee, Andrew. What Should Think Tanks Do? : A Strategic Guide to Policy Impact. Palo Alto, CA, USA: Stanford University Press, 2013. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 21 October 2015.
Smith, James Allen. Brookings at Seventy-five. Washington, D.C.: Institution, 1991. Print.
Proletariat – Quinn Lincoln
The “Proletariat” refers to a class of persons in a society that do not own any means of production and sell their labor for wages as a means for survival.
While the “proletariat” can simply be used synonymously with the “working class,” contextually, the proletariat was the working class during the industrial revolution when the bourgeois controlled all means of production and laborers were forced to work as wage laborers [1]. It marked the first time in history that laborers did not work to create a product but rather worked for a wage.
Other than the simplest definition meaning “working class,” “proletariat” holds less and less significance to the modern society in spite of Marx’s relevant strategies[2]. The nature of the Mark’s proletariat changes based on the circumstances in which it appeared[3]. As the term was born out of the industrial revolution, it would make sense that it would lose significance as society progressed. In modern society the “proletariat” should be considered a subset of the working class, specifically the subset of unskilled laborers. The key feature of the proletariat is their continued marginalization, as in Marx’s victory at the First International Working Men’s Association, or as seen in New Urban Frontier [4].
Bibliography:
[1] Marx, Karl. (1998). Communist Manifesto. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm
[2] Gindin, S. (2012). MARX'S PROLETARIAT: What can today's labor movement learn from marx? New Labor Forum, 21(2), 15-23,130. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.whitman.edu:2048/login?url=http:search.proquest.com/docview/1016789186?accountid=1208
[3] De Climont, Jean. The Suicide of the Proletariat. N.p,: Assailly, 2004. Books.google. Web. [74]
[4] Smith, Neil. The New Urban Frontier. New York: Routledge, 1996. CLEO. [180]
Al-Dabbagh, Abdulla. American University Studies, Volume 39 : Socialist Literature : Theory and Practice. New York, NY, USA: Peter Lang AG, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web.
History of Social Class. Films on Demand. 2009. Web.
http://digital.films.com.ezproxy.whitman.edu:2048/PortalViewVideo.aspx?xtid=10208#