Political Economy: wealth and poverty

Quiz

Issues of Family and Pettigrew

Begin political economy

Discussion of Family

1. Is it possible that dysfunctional families will become the norm in the U.S.?

2. Is the increasing divorce rate in the United States leading to an decreased marriage rate?

3. The strain on the family has been discussed in class, but is it possible that this is not strain, but rather, the development of a new kind of family?

Discussion of Family #1

Is it possible that dysfunctional families will become the norm in the U.S.?Following Hochschild, we distinguished 4 types of families;I suggested that the “dysfunctional family” was unintended, transitional and pathologicalMany students wanted discussion of that

Recall 4 types in Hochschild:

Agreed division of labor

Disagreement and conflict over DoL

Egalitarian Modern Dysfunctional

Male-dominant Traditional Ambivalent

Are there other types? Is this classification complete or correct?

“Dysfunctional”

Hochschild’s finding was that one of the commonest forms of family division of labor was one in which there was substantial disagreement and confusion, and a great deal of family maintenance did not get done by anyone.

I suggested that it was transitional, pathological and unintentional. This may be wrong.

Discussion of Family #2

Is the increasing divorce rate in the United States leading to an decreased marriage rate – I.e. a larger proportion of children not in a (2-parent) family at all?

Not logically: one could have a very high divorce rate with no decrease in the marriage rate at all.

And empirically, divorced people remarry.

But there might be some trends leading to both

Discussion of Family #3

The strain on the family has been discussed in class, but is it possible that this is not strain, but rather, the development of a new kind of family, which does not reflect the family of classic TV (“Leave it to Beaver”)More pluralism?Different dominant form

Some Pettigrew Questions

1. I do not understand the difference between an “invisible hand” and an “invisible fist”.

2. If there are negative and frustrating outcomes (of “invisible fists” and “dark clouds” then why do people do them?

3. Doesn’t all unregulated market action lead to “invisible fists?”

Pettigrew’s concepts (review)

Outcomes of individual choices

Unintended outcomes of public policy

Positive Invisible Hand

Silver Lining

Negative Invisible Fist

Dark Cloud

If they lead to paradoxes and frustration, why do we do

them?1. Individually, we can only change our

behavior.2. Sometimes we do not know the

outcome.3. Sometimes the outcomes are different

for different people,4. Who may have different amounts of

power.

Doesn’t unregulated market action always lead

to invisible fists?To some degree: even Adam Smith wanted a fair amount of collective action for education, etc.

But sometimes there are relatively few consequences for others, or those consequences are relatively benign.

E.g. family farms.

Sociologists stress unintended consequences for others more than economists

Many of the overall issues of markets are about

inequality. The item WLTH POV taps many of the sources of disagreement about the best scope of markets:

Intrinsically, markets often create and reinforce inequality.

For some people, that is freedom and is OK

For others, it is not.

“In a free society it is alright if a few people accumulate a lot of wealth and property while many others live in poverty.”

The class response

About 1/5 agreed; about 3/5 disagreed

WLTH POV -- In a free society it is all right if a few people accumulatea lot of wealth and property while many others live in poverty

Freq. % agree1) 5 17.2neither2) 7 24.1disagree3) 17 58.6

TOTAL (N) 29 100.0

Response in the national sample

In the whole population, a little less than 1/5 agree, and a little more than 1/5 disagree.

WLTH POV -- AGREE OR DISAGREE: -- In a free society, it is all right ifa few people accumulate a lot of wealth and property while manyothers live in poverty. (WLTHPOV)

Freq. % AGREE1) 524 38.4NEITHER2) 264 19.3DISAGREE3) 578 42.3

TOTAL (N) 1366 100.0

Missing 1451

How will various background

characteristics affect this item?1. Age

2. Income

3. Race

4. Sex

5. Liberalism-conservatism

How will agreement with this general attitude affect

the item:Place yourself on the scale from:

1. I strongly agree that the government should do more to improve the living standards of the poor

2. Agree government should do more3. Agree with both4. Agree people should help self5. Strongly agree that people should help

themselves.

Association between support for gov’t policy and WLTH

POVWLTH POV by HELP POOR?

GOVERNMENT AGR.W/BOTH PEOPLE Missing TOTAL

AGREE 62 140 151 171 353

17.6% 39.7% 42.8% 100.0%

NEITHER 32 95 51 86 178

18.0% 3.4% 28.7% 100.0%

DISAGRE 134 152 71 221 357

37.5% 42.6% 19.9% 100.0%

Missing 272 399 263 517 1451

TOTAL 228 387 273 995 888

Questions for next class:

1. What is the main cause of the killing in the Middle East?

2. What role as U.S. policy played with regard to it?

3. What should American policy be?

Interesting, useful, non-required colloquium

4 Middle Eastern Theorists (one important sociologist) on the nature of conflict and dynamic in Israel today

Tollentine 215

Tomorrow (Friday) 12:30

“Spy Game”

The Robert Redford movie hinges on an incident where to get rid of a leader of the Palestinian resistance, the CIA had a client group organization of Lebanon Christians blow up an apartment complex with a truck bomb. We would have preferred to do it a different way And Redford was sorry. Chomski says it was mosque.

Spy Game continued

1. Did (does) that happen?

2. Is it Typical?

3. Does it matter whether it is a matter of explicit policy?