Political Economy: wealth and poverty

1. Political Economy: wealth and poverty Quiz Issues of Family and Pettigrew Begin political economy

2. Discussion of Family • Is it possible that dysfunctional families will become the norm in the U.S.? • Is the increasing divorce rate in the United States leading to an decreased marriage rate? • 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?

3. 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 pathological • Many students wanted discussion of that

4. Recall 4 types in Hochschild: Are there other types? Is this classification complete or correct?

5. “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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. Some Pettigrew Questions • I do not understand the difference between an “invisible hand” and an “invisible fist”. • If there are negative and frustrating outcomes (of “invisible fists” and “dark clouds” then why do people do them? • Doesn’t all unregulated market action lead to “invisible fists?”

9. Pettigrew’s concepts (review)

10. If they lead to paradoxes and frustration, why do we do them? • Individually, we can only change our behavior. • Sometimes we do not know the outcome. • Sometimes the outcomes are different for different people, • Who may have different amounts of power.

11. 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

12. 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.”

13. The class response About 1/5 agreed; about 3/5 disagreed

14. Response in the national sample • In the whole population, a little less than 1/5 agree, and a little more than 1/5 disagree.

15. How will various background characteristics affect this item? • Age • Income • Race • Sex • Liberalism-conservatism

16. How will agreement with this general attitude affect the item: • Place yourself on the scale from: • I strongly agree that the government should do more to improve the living standards of the poor • Agree government should do more • Agree with both • Agree people should help self • Strongly agree that people should help themselves.

17. Association between support for gov’t policy and WLTH POV WLTH 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

18. Questions for next class: • What is the main cause of the killing in the Middle East? • What role as U.S. policy played with regard to it? • What should American policy be?

19. 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

20. “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.

21. Spy Game continued • Did (does) that happen? • Is it Typical? • Does it matter whether it is a matter of explicit policy?