Question

Extra Credit: During COVID, loss of employment has been a large public issue that has exposed one of the impacts of living in a capitalist society. In the US, 40 million Americans have lost their jobs, and among them, women, people of color, and working class folks have lost jobs at a disproportionate rate. We have also witnessed that America's wealthiest have increased their wealth by multiple fold. In August, collectively, billionaires saw their net worth increase by over a half a trillion dollars ($637 billion). A month later, collectively, the billionaires' wealth grew to $845 billion. This reflects which of the following most accurately?

Group of answer choices

It's like what Berger and Luckmann say; social construction of reality show that money is only meaningful because we provide meaning to it.

It's like what Durkheim shows; everything has a function.

It's like Marx says; under capitalism, the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer.

It's like what Weber says; it's because the wealthiest people are exemplifying the Protestant Ethic

Answer 1

The correct answer is (c) It is what Marx says , under capitalism, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer.

The statement clearly shows how the pandemic has affected those who did not enjoy power in the society which comes with money. They were laid off of work. This made them even poorer. On the other hand, the rich were able to channelise their wealth in ways which were profitable during the pandemic. Due to this, their wealth grew or rich became richer. Marx has highlighted this tendency of capitalism in his writing mentioning that the working class is at the loosing end.

The other options are incorrect because those statements are not appropriate to decsribe the situation given in the question. It clearly mentions how the capitalist society is constructed to benefit the rich and make them wealthier and the working class is treated only as a factor of production.