SOC 103 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Sovereign People, Profit Maximization, Mass Production

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 103
• Professor: Rebecca Lock

Document Summary

Owners / bourgeoisie: possessed the means of production / capital. Workers / proletariat: sold their labour for wages. Driven by the maximizing of profits / grow or die. Capital is money used to make more money. Power relations are more subtle in capitalism than in feudalism. Different rules of coercion to get people to work, than violence. Out of personal interest we work people. Laws, regulations, unions mitigate the rights of workers, or try to. Owners appear to give something to workers (rather than take), a contract between sovereign. Owners maintain the upper hand (other workers available). The key producer of wealth is the worker. Lower wages, less workers, working harder, all maximize profit. Work as central to life & who we are. Alienation: separation between the worker and their labour and all this entails. Working conditions, lack of conditions, mundane and repetitive tasks. Loss of control over process, product and the surplus value created.