Recent economic researches findings show that the gap between the rich and the poor has widened significantly in the modern times. In the United States for example, the top rich one percent households hold much wealth than the wealth that is held by 95 percents of households in the bottom combined. Why are income inequalities continuing to burgeon? In a thrilling documentary 2009 film based on real-life evidence, Capitalism: A Love Story, Michael Moore attempts to answer this question by explaining how capitalism economic system favors the selected few rich individuals who owns means of production but against the majority who provide labor to the rich peoples’ organization for survival. Private ownership of means of production, the market forces determine the prices of goods and services and people have liberty to decide what to buy, produce or where to work characterizes capitalistic economy.
For quite long time, there has been an ongoing debate if capitalism economic system helps in improving the living conditions of the people, contribute to elimination of inequality gaps between the haves and the have-nots and in general improvement of people’s welfare. In the film, George W. Bush applauds capitalism by arguing that capitalism is among the best systems that have ever been devised in the human history because it gives people to liberty as well as right to own properties, invest in businesses of their choices, and choose where and when to work. Also, the existence stiff competition encourages players in the market to be more efficient and they therefore charge competitive prices and produce high-quality goods and services that meet the needs of all consumers.
Therefore, everyone has equal opportunity to invest and amass as much wealth as one could and purchase the products one wishes. However, this is a false ideology that is used by small group of wealthy individuals to create false consciousness among the workers by making them believe that they are not successful because they are not working hard and as a consequence be able to exploit them.
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However, other people such as Michael Moore refute this claim by arguing that capitalism is an ineffective economic system that has widened the social gap between the poor and the rich. The rich- the profit maximization goals drive owners of means of production and do care much about the workers who beyond the call of duty to ensure organizations achieve their objectives. In the film, Moore shows how the organization lays-off their workers, overworks their workers and pays them meager salaries and at the same time engages in fraudulent business practices such as confiscating their works life insurance benefits after they pass away.
Karl Marx conflict theoretical propositions can be drawn to explain the relationship between the (bourgeoisie)-owners of property and means of production and the laborers (proletariat) – workers who provide labor services for survival and how such relationship reflects inequalities in the United States. Max Weber‘s adds to Marx’s ideas by developing the multidimensional explanation of class structure by identifying the additional classes. The two theorists emphasized that the workers as well as capitalists are major players in class society.
Social stratification theory focuses on how people use their power and prestige in addition to resources gain wealth thereby causing inequalities in the US. Weber’s theoretical propositions add insights to Marx’s theory by explaining how the rich people use power vested in them as well as prestige to amass wealth for themselves and in the expense of poor tax-payers. The current paper draws knowledge from Marx’s conflict theory and Weber’s stratification theory to analyze Moore’s documentary film and explain how capitalism has widened social gap between the haves and have-nots and increased the poverty levels among the poor.
In his conflict theory, Karl Marx posits that the society comprises of two distinct classes which he termed as bourgeoisie and proletariat which compete for the economic and social resources (Mooney et al. 2013: 10). The bourgeoisie are the owners of means of production such as land and factories and they survive by exploiting the proletariats who provide labor to their factories for survival. The Mark’s further stated that the bourgeoisie and proletariat are always in constant conflict because of the exploitative nature of the bourgeoisie who focuses on exploiting their workers to maximize their profit.
The conflict theory helps to explain how the capitalist economic system works in the modern society by benefiting the haves and translating to the poverty to the have not (Mooney et al. 2013: 10). The society maintains order through domination but consensus and the power disproportionately lies on the hands of those that have greatest social, political as well as economic resources (Andersen & Taylor 2008:21). The major goal of for-profit organization is to maximize wealth for the company owners and the companies’ managements adopt every strategy that helps them actualize this goal.
In the film, Capitalism: A Love Story, director Michael Moore uses real-life examples to show how for-profit organizations are driven by selfish interests to maximize profit in the expense of their hardworking and loyal workers at all costs (Michael). The workers goes beyond the call of duty to ensure the for-profit organizations realize their goals of maximizing profit but they focus on cutting costs as much as possible on their expense. The conflict theory posits that inequality is considered to be unfair but the disproportionate share of the social resources helps to defend the advantages of the haves (Andersen & Taylor 2008:22). The companies’ ultimate desire to maximize profits results to massive laying-off of workers, increase in poverty levels and taking advantage of their hard working workers.
A phenomenon Marx described as the exploitation of the workers. For example, Republican Doors and Windows LCC Company in Chicago, Illinois closed its operations in December 2008 after the Bank of America declined to provide credit. In response, the bank lay off 250 workers after giving them the 3-days notice and it did not pay the money it owed them (Michael). A similar aspect characterizes many airlines companies in the United States which underpay the pilots despite being overworked. In a heartbreaking confession, one of the pilots explains how his colleagues their plasma in their blood to get money to meet their needs.
Pilot Chesley Sullenberger who saved the lives of 250 people after the plane crashed on Hudson River in 2009 also made a shocking confession that his decision to remain in the profession he loves came at a great financial cost to him and his family (Michael). He further stated that the company he was working for slashed 40 percent of his salary and terminated his pension and he does not therefore think there is single person in the pilot profession who he thinks would like their children to serve in the same profession.
Moore further explores how the for-profit making organizations zeal of generating much profit drives them to take advantage of their dead employees by confiscating their life insurance benefits. In the film, Moore interviews Anna Johnson whose her husband, Daniel L. Johnson was an employee of Amegy Bank, Texas before he died of cancer. After his death, the bank confiscated his life insurance benefits amounting to 1.5 million dollars (Michael). The shocking revelations made by workers from different organizations throughout the film show the extent which companies can go to ensure they maximize profit at the expense of workers and it reflects the form of exploitation discussed by Marx in his conflict theory.
Moore interviewed a local attorney with great experience in handling life insurance cases and he stated that the organizations that pay life insurance for their employees considers them to be more valuable when they are dead than alive so that they can benefit by their life insurance benefits (Michael). These forms of exploitation result to increase in poverty levels and widening the gap between the rich and the poor. The widening social inequality between the haves and have-nots is supported by the recent economic research findings which show that the top 1 percent rich households own 40 percent of the country’s wealth. These stThe top 1% rich households in the U.S own much wealth than that of the 90% of the households at the bottom combined (Michael). The social gap continues to widen as the rich continue to become rich and poor becoming poorer.
The rich uses their significant influence and control to convince the workers that existing distribution of power and the wealth is preferable that each person can be successful provided that they work hard. The bourgeoisie therefore create false consciousness among the workers by making believe that they are not successful because they are not working hard (Ferraro & Andreatta 2017: 306). If the workers continue believing such ideology the status quo will remain and inequities of the stratification will continue. Marks further hypothesized that as the bourgeoisie continue to become richer, the workers will develop true consciousness as well as shared sense of identity because their common experience of being exploited.
As a consequence, they will unite and trigger a revolution which will enable them gain equitable share of the country’s wealth and change the society to a communist (Mooney et al. 2013: 11). In 2005 and 2006, the Citi Bank wrote three memos addressed to wealth investors comprising of one percent and it expressed its interests to rule the world. In the memo, the bank noted that United States was no longer a democracy but a plutonomy-the society controlled for the benefit of top one percent rich households (Michael). The bank also noted that there is a risk that 99 percent can revolt and demand equitable share of the wealthy. The poor might not have similar economic power as the rich but they have similar voting power as the rich, the power they can use for their advantage.
Max Weber‘s adds to Marx’s ideas by developing the multidimensional explanation of class structure by identifying the additional classes (Kendal 2012: 225). The two theorists emphasized that the workers as well as capitalists are major players in class society. In his stratification theory, Weber argued that the access to power and prestige also influences the social class. The individuals who have power in the society can use their influence to acquire more wealth. Weber defined p
ower as the ability for an individual holding a particular position to get his/her way despite experiencing opposition (Andersen & Taylor 2008). The people who occupy the senior leadership positions in the organizations such as CEO also benefit from the increased profit the company makes by getting more perks. Therefore, by using the powers vested in them by the position they holds, people tend to use their influence to gain much wealth thereby resulting to widening social gaps between those who have power and those do not. Unlike Marx who stated that in the absence of capitalism the society will become communism, Weber stated that the society will become bureaucratic. This marked the point of departure of the two theorists.
In the film, Moore explains how individuals’ uses the power vested in them to amass wealth for themselves selfishly. In Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, Michael Conahan used his power as a judge to close the public juvenile system and hired the private profit-making organization; PA Child Care got built at a cost of eight million dollars. The owner of the PA Child Care collaborated with Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan unjustly sentenced 6,500 children and confined them in PA Child Care (Michael) Conahan and Ciavarella benefited from deal by getting 2.6 million dollars while owner who was a lawyer received tens of million dollars taxpayers’ money. The spirit of capitalism and need to maximize profit made the children to lose their valuable time in their prime years (Michael).
Moore also explored how the senior political officials and government officials use the powers vested in their position to benefit themselves and amass wealth in the expense of crumbling economy. They first used their positions to change the banking regulations, a move that lead to 2007-2009 economic depression. The citizens in were lured to refinance their mortgages many failed to repay their mortgages and banks foreclosed their homes thereby leaving them poorer. Moore concludes by stating that the US is the wealthiest nation in the world and its citizen should have access to better healthcare, home and quality education and it is a crime if they cannot access these essential services (Michael). However, he states that they will never access them provided that will continue to benefit the selected few in the expense of the majority.
Marx’s conflict and Max’s social stratification theories provides important theoretical propositions that help to understand how ownership of resources, and power benefit few rich individuals in the expense of majority poor people in a capitalistic economy. Moore shows in the film how the for-profits ultimate goal of maximizing profit has resulted to widening gaps between the haves and have-nots. Moore categorically conclude by stating that it is a crime that Americans live in the most wealthiest country world but some cannot access better education, health and a home and they will never provided that capitalism will continue to benefit the selected few in the expense of the majority.
Reference
- Andersen, Margaret L, &Howard F. Taylor. 2008. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 2008. Print.
- Andersen, Margaret L, and Howard F. Taylor. 2008. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning. Print.
- Ferraro, Gary, & Gary Andreatta. 2017. Cultural Anthropology: An Applied Perspective. Boston: Cengage Learning. Print.
- Kendal, Diana. 2012.Sociology in Our Times. Cengage Learning.
- Michael, Moore.2009. Capitalism: A Love Story. United States. Dog Eat Dog Films.
- Mooney, Linda A, David Knox, and Caroline Schacht. Understanding Social Problems. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
