March 19, 2023

Capitalism: Power, Privilege, and Profit

Women, people of color and the lower class are some of the most exploited groups within our capitalist society. This is fairly common information, however, it is not usually asked why this is the case. What other systems work within capitalism to push such groups down? Similarly, how does capitalism use these systems to exacerbate preexisting inequalities? The economic and social exploitation of marginalized groups may be directly under the fault of capitalism but other oppressive systems are intertwined within it to further the abuse. To properly understand capitalism’s effects, we must unpack how sexism, racism, and classism have been embedded in our society since the colonization of North America. 

Colonists separated production and reproduction labors by gender: men with production and women with reproduction. Once separated, different standards were applied to each respective gender group. Reproductive labor was without wages, respect, and status as human beings. Any work within the house was not considered labor, and therefore, women were not seen as workers contributing anything to society besides birthing and raising children. Women’s autonomy rights were stripped from them on the basis of capitalism needing more people to contribute to the labor economy. Grace Kyungwon Hong described how “capital accumulates not through the exploitation of waged productive labor … but through the turning of people into property” (38). She touched upon a vital aspect of the existence of capitalism; not only must waged workers be exploited but also unpaid care laborers (primarily women) until they are dehumanized with the sole purpose of being an incubator. The establishment of gendered categories in social and economic labor results from a patriarchal society in which a man’s work is valued immensely more than a woman’s. Considering this, it is obvious that patriarchy and capitalism work hand in hand, with each oppressive system helping the other gain more control and power.

Turning back to the arrival of colonists in North America, racist tactics were immediately deplored to not only survive but to gain authority over Native Americans. Other than the diseases that colonists brought to America, they also brought their system of capitalism, infiltrating the natives’ current economic system of reciprocity with one based upon extraction. From the very beginning, racism and capitalism were tangled together to the point that they were indistinguishable from one another. They were deployed from the moment that colonists stepped foot off of the boat in an attempt to take power and control over Native Americans. Additionally, colonial people saw an opportunity to profit off of people that they considered “inferior” to themselves due to the Native Americans’ race and culture. The type of economic society that was forced upon North America in the 1600s (and has remained with us up to the present day) was later referred to as racial capitalism, describing “racial differentiation and racism as inseparable from the capitalist political economy” (Goldstein 61). Furthermore, we can see that this system exploits people of color in a way in which slavery was used as an economic strategy. Despite the origins of racial capitalism beginning with Native Americans, soon after, Africans were forced into slavery for colonists to increase their profits. The constant history in America of degrading and dehumanizing people to achieve the goal of making more money for those who are privileged is telling of the economic hierarchy that exists.

Possibly the most evident and acknowledged form of capitalist exploitation is of the lower class. The extreme wealth gap within the United States is talked about often, particularly because it continues to widen as time goes on. Those in the upper class hold all the wealth and power while anyone below them bears the struggles of poverty and laboring. With such a power imbalance growing exponentially in our economic society, those with more money can easily contribute to a classist capitalist society by hiring people who are willing to do cheap labor. Those who are willing to work for very little money tend to be the same people that need to work so that they can survive. The rich take advantage of the poor by using their weaknesses (desperation for work and the need to provide for their families) as a way to advance their profit. Care labor is a prime example of how classism is interwoven into capitalism. Primarily lower class women do care work, which is devalued from a profession to a familial (or at times non-familial) responsibility. White upper-class people hire those in poverty to take care of their children so that they can pursue and achieve their career goals. Sandy Grande discusses the basic inequalities of care work in capitalism regarding “who is ‘worthy’ of care, who can access care, and whose labor will be conscripted and extracted to care for others” (46). She goes on to explain how it is primarily the labor of poor people of color that is used for the benefit of white, wealthy people who are deemed deserving of care. When discussing care labor, it is often not taken into account the effect on the caretakers and their families considering that the care provided to others means that care cannot be given to their own households. The exploitation of classes through capitalism has proven to further widen the wealth gap, in addition to worsening the dehumanization of those in poverty.

The systems that help to fuel the fire that is capitalism are discussed as being completely separate. However, it is the way that sexism, racism, and classism are unnoticeably interwoven within capitalism that allows white upper-class men to gain control and power over marginalized groups. Likewise, the values of capitalism rest on exploitation for profit, which by pairing with these systems, has resulted in a systemically oppressive economic society. Consequently, one person can have more opportunities than the other by appearing masculine, white, and rich as opposed to those that are taken advantage of by appearing feminine, non-white, and poor. Capitalism has blended with sexism, racism, and classism to create a society where power, privilege, and profit are the main forces and values at work.

References

Collective, T. K. F. E., Kyungwon Hong, G., & Grande, S. (2021). Keywords for gender and sexuality studies. NYU Press.

Koshy, S., Cacho, L. M., Byrd, J. A., Jefferson, B. J., & Goldstein, A. (2022). Colonial racial capitalism.