Consequences of Capitalism

America is a capitalistic economy that has systematically created ways to marginalize minorities in effort to keep the rich richer and the poor poorer. From the beginning of this country, the economic system has been working to suppress certain groups of people and keep other groups elevated. Capitalism has allowed this system to continue. This is a combination of racism and classism that is so prevalent in Capitalistic America.

"Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit, usually in competitive markets. Income in a capitalist system takes at least two forms, profit on the one hand and wages on the other. There is also a tradition that treats rent, income from the control of natural resources, as a third phenomenon distinct from either of those. In any case, profit is what is received, by virtue of control of the tools of production, by those who provide the capital and utilize it so successfully that revenue from resulting products exceeds the costs of production. Often profits are used to expand an enterprise, thus creating more jobs and wealth. Wages are received by those who provide a service to the enterprise, also known as workers, but do not have an ownership stake in it, and are therefore compensated irrespective of whether the enterprise makes a profit or a loss. In the case of profitable enterprise, profits are therefore not translated to workers except at the discretion of the owners, who may or may not receive increased compensation, whereas losses are not translated to workers except at similar discretion manifested by decreased compensation.
There is no consensus on the precise definition of capitalism."

quote from: Wikipedia

Capitalism is made possible from the working and middle class. These two classes support the upper class and their businesses. Without a strong support of workers any business could not be successful. In essence what is happening is that a group of elite people are dictating what will happen and everyone else is doing the work to keep everything running in order. Capitalism preaches a free market but is it really and truly free? "Free" implies that the market is within reach to anyone who wants it. It is not free though and comes at a cost; typically that cost is working hands being manipulated into a system that hurts them and benefits a small group of rich. Regulations on the market have become more lax since the 1970's. While regulations once supported small business (or working/middle class attempting to get a hand at upper class), regulations have now allowed large corporations like Viacom to monopolize certain markets. Smaller companies are forced to sell out or shut down because they can't compete with large corporations that consume the majority of the market.

All this is made possible from ideology that has been instilled in the culture of the nation. The ideology that I am talking about supports the oppression of certain groups and the elevation of other groups. Ideology is placed in schools, religion, government facilities, media, and other public institutions. This is known as Hegemony: a theory by Antonio Gramsci. Hegemony basically states that ideas are put in place through many avenues, such as media, schools, government organizations, ect., that support oppression of minority groups and the success of other groups for the benefit of the economy or social control. All the while the ideas are made to seem "natural" and "normal." They most indeed are not though. The ideology most often supports one group and demeans another in an attempt to create economic wealth for one side.
Examples of this are everywhere in the United States: most predominantly in media. It would seem that in order for capitalism to function there needs to be a "problem people" or a group of people that are dehumanized in order to justify their treatment. This can be seen from the beginning of history. It began with the blacks and slavery. At that time the success of the south was built on the backs of the black labor force. This was the start of a class system in the U.S. Blacks would have been the "working class" and whites would have been the upper class. Middle class was more of the factory workers who weren't black. This struggle would continue up until modern day with races such as the Irish, who were dehumanized during the Industrial Age. Fast forward to modern day with Mexicans who were seen as a scape goat for the fall of the economy back in 2008. Regulations and lots of publicity created hostility towards Mexicans for "stealing jobs": jobs that no upper or even "middle class" person would take on. Now, our very current situation shows that Arabs "are the new black." They have been marginalized after 9-11 to all be violent and dangerous. They are inhuman and should not be respected...So the media dictates to us.
Movies like Borat poke fun at non-white groups: making these people appear dumb and weird. Throughout the movie, Borat is a character that appears stupid and always disrespectful. This movie is difficult to analyze though because it could be argued that it attempted to fouly bring light to the ridiculous stereotypes and ideology set in place with media.

In any case I have included a clip from Borat....
In the clip Borat is in the "hood." Blacks are depicted stereotypically. There is no scene in this movie that counteracts this scene. Meaning there is not a black character in this movie that appears "educated" or "well to do." This is just one tiny example of how class and race are put together and a message is sent to the audience about a black person's identity or what is expected and "normal."

http://youtu.be/cNtkyA1C4jg

It is difficult to sum up this blog....
This topic is one that touches at everyone and at everything around us. Only when we are observant and begin to question everything can we even begin to shed some insight on this.