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What are your thoughts on the possibility of one day living in a socialist…
What are your thoughts on the possibility of one day living in a socialist
society?
Do you enjoy living in a capitalist society?
Caveat: depends on your social class, and whether you are benefitting
Yes
Provides the welfare state, free healthcare and education - good enough?
convenience/availability of products
Class mobility
No
the majority cannot accumulate wealth
creates monopoly, economies of scale, blocking out possible competition from entering the market
sustains alienation in labour from products, potential, people, process
Are there any problems you, or people in your life, have experienced living in a capitalist
society?
We are socialized in a capitalist system, hard to imagine living without it
Alientation from the process, asking managers to change the process for efficiency, but looked over
No decision making abiltiy
Stuck doing ARBUS courses due to co-op program, when could be spending time doing courses we actually enjoy, e.g. SOC/LS
Alienation from potential
Do you relate to any of the ‘internal contradictions’ Marx identifies as being built right into the
capitalist social structure?
Pauperization
Statistics show that wages are barely increasing relatively to the huge spike the Global GDP
Value definitely increasing, yet not seen in wealth of collective
Wealth accumulated only by capitalists, creating large gap
Exploitative and contradictory WL/C relation
The exchange between WL and C are unequal, as C gives fixed wages, and WL gives unlimited value
Part-time jobs: not entitled for a break until WL has worked for 5 hrs, C exploits laws to not give breaks
Rationalization
Send employees home if not needed, to ensure not getting paid, ok since part-time
Take away breaks during busy season
Signed on for certain amount of hrs, but push employees to either cut back hours or add too many
How do you feel about the possibility of alternatively living in a socialist society?
some socialist aspects are appealing to us
Living in a socialist society would benefit us collectively, primarily those of us from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
However, those of us from middle class backgrounds won't like the change due to the required increased taxation that enables a socialist change
Canada is closer to a socialist society than before, but still a way to
Co-op, cranberry juice company, and hiking gear company, but less than US due to economies of scale
Excited about how raising and encouraging people to pursue fulfilling their potential would raise society as a whole
Can progress faster and more if everyone had the opportunity to pursue whatever they wanted
Difficult to imagine, as no real-life good examples
What aspects of living in a socialist society do/do not appeal to you? Why or why not?
High Taxation/cost of re-distributing money, because people don't like to lose the money they earned
Less pressure, people can explore possible jobs and find their purpose, no pressure to stick to their first job for survival
The potential for free time and less work hours, potential to pursue purpose (hobbies), improve happiness
Members: Menar Al-Najjar (20849315), Jenny Wu (20710992), Aaren Pasupathy (20902458), Kay Millinger-Snyder (20953665)