Philosophical Reflection on Gender, Race, and Class in a Capitalistic Society.

By César Omar Sánchez

This report paper is a response analysis and reflection to a Social Justice class taken at NJCU (New Jersey City University). 

         

We are no doubt living in a world of spectacles during a Global Pandemic in the United States. We live in a world where profits are more valued than human lives. We see our beautiful planet being destroyed due to our human activities and the economic system that exacerbates it, Capitalism. This current economic paradigm that we are in will ultimately take us all to our doom if we do not rise and take affirmative actions. This not a mere hyperbole message I am conveying, but facts being presented to everyone to comprehend. In Capitalism, this system brings the following: gender inequality, racist cast system towards Afro-Americans, and the assault on the middle class which is almost wiped out.

Gender oppression under Capitalism

            If we look back into history, there a clear pattern on how gender subordination is intertwined within the functions of a capitalistic society. Unfortunately, when it comes to Gender Discrimination in the United States, women in the workforce are not treated well and ignored of their needs. From low salary wage to job positions where many of their white female counterparts do not have as much, gender discrimination continues to become a big problem not only in the United States but also worldwide.

In a 2012 report from the Center of American Progress, The State of Women of America, the inequalities remain. Yes, one will argue that women are increasing in numbers within the workforce, but women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. However, for African American women, they are paid only 66 cents for every dollar a man makes. Just to clarify a little:

The pay disparity is more dramatic for women of color: African American women make 64 cents for every dollar white men make, and Hispanic women earn only 53 cents. ⁽¹⁾

The ferocity attacks on women and transgender are on the rise, even more, when Global Capitalism brings instability in people's livelihood. Racist caste oppressive system is still intact in the United States

Unfortunately, the ideology of white supremacy towards African Americans, Jews, Muslims, and other people of color is still alive and well in the United States. Even though their numbers are not significantly higher as in previous decades, it is important to know the historical backdrop of this nation and how it was founded under white supremacy. During the British Empire, colonialism in many regions of the world was key to conquer and seize natural resources. Let's take a Tory member of the British House of Commons in 1807 who said the following:

Giving education to the labouring classes of the poor...would...be prejudicial to their morals and happiness; it would teach them to despise their lot in life, instead of making them good servants in agriculture, and other laborious employment to which their rank in society had destined them; instead of teaching them subordination, it would render them factious and refractory...; it would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books, and publications against Christianity; it would read render them insolent to their superiors. ⁽²⁾

When you look at politicians in the United States, you can see many echoes similar calls. William Harper, a pro-slavery lawyer from South Carolina said the following:

The Creator did not intend that every individual human being should be highly cultivated...It is better that a part should be fully and highly cultivated and the rest utterly ignorant. ⁽³⁾

            If we analyze the entire prison industrial complex system in the United States, it has all the indications of modern-day slavery. This caste system in both our prison and outside world is built to keep us Latinos, Blacks, and people of color in check. These relics we see down south of this nation and mechanism in place are to remind us who are the real ones running the show. As the author, Michelle Alexander talks about in her book "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness", there is a systemic problem on how Blacks are continuing to be criminalized and discriminated which leads them to be sent off to prison. Our Criminal Court Justice in the United State is a joke, and if many of the Black individuals had an actual fair trial, the system will immediately collapse.

Jim Crow laws were wiped off the books decades ago, but today an extraordinary percentage of the African American community is warehoused in prisons or trapped in a parallel social universe, denied basic civil and human rights—including the right to vote; the right to serve on juries; and the right to be free of legal discrimination in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits." ⁽⁴⁾

Defining Certain Structural Classism within a Capitalistic System

            There are different levels of classes within our society, however, the most obvious ones are the working classes and the ruling elites. When it comes to economic class, we must understand the working-class or the common people related to labor and means of production.

As Karl Marx one of the authors of the Communist Manifesto puts it:

"These social relations between the producers, and the conditions under which they exchange their activities and share in the total act of production, will naturally vary according to the character of the means of production. "⁽⁵⁾

            Philosophers like Robert Nozick argues more of an Entitlement Theory where any distribution of “holdings,” as he calls them. Nozick's Theory resembles close to libertarianism on the grounds where there are potentially vast material inequalities where systems like the "Free Market" exacerbates this situation of the idea of “ownership”. What is a fair distribution when Nozick's libertarianism in many ways advocates the protection of strong ownership rights over unequal amounts of the external world? How do you own a piece of a planet?

Philosophies, Theories, and Practices today’s society in the United States

We all want to live in a world where we can all share and live in a harmonic society without having a few percentages of individuals or groups controlling more than half of the world's natural resources. John Rawls's philosophical theory suggests that all laws and institutions, no matter how well arranged and efficient they are must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Rawls's theory mentions the feature of justice as fairness is to think of the parties (let’s say Democrats and Republicans) as rational and mutually unbiased. However, Rawl instantly says that this does not mean the parties are as he puts it:

“…egoists, that is, individuals with only certain kinds of interests, say in wealth, prestige, and domination.” ⁽⁶⁾

            There are many great theories out there that if we dare to implement them, we still might have a chance to save from global catastrophe. However, before we can take one step forward, we must acknowledge that the political and economic system we have today is no longer sustainable. My reflection on these philosophers and theories in this class lacks some sort of credibility as it more of cons than pros within our current financial and political system. I felt that this course is carefully and intelligibly crafted to push a more of a “Free Market” libertarianism ideology. When we talk about class and social justice, I find it a bit strange that political and economic philosophers are not part of our reading in this course. That is not to say, that all these philosophers did not have good intentions to bring some sort of justice distribution of wealth to society. However, I believe we are just seeing it from one perspective and not the entire picture.

Conclusion

We have to understand that the purpose of real education is to create minds to build a more humane society and not only just about the profit mode. I am reminded of a quote from former Chief editor war correspondence reporter who said the following regarding education:

"We’ve bought into the idea that education is about training and “success”, defined monetarily, rather than learning to think critically and to challenge. We should not forget that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers. A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, which fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is its compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death." ⁽⁷⁾

            I agree with his assessment and no doubt we must reevaluate our way of perceiving education in the United States and perhaps it is time shift to a whole new paradigm. Time is up, time to act.

by César Omar Sánchez. Community organizer, New York/New Jersey Cuba Si Coalition, Advisory Board Member of ProLibertad: Free All Political Prisoners Campaign.

References-Citations

1. Chu, Anna, and Charles Posner. “The State of Women in America.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2013/09/25/74836/the-state-of-women-in-america/
2. Lindert, Peter H. 2004, Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century, New York: Cambridge University Press
3. Kaestle, Carl F. 1983. Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860. Edited by Eric Foner. New York: Hill and Wang.
4. Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press Publication. 2020
5. Karl Marx. Wage Labour and Capital. Chpt. 5: The Nature and Growth of Capital.  https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/ch05.htm
6. Sandel, Michael J. Justice: A Reader, Chapter VII: Rawls: Justice as Fairness“A Theory of Justice” by John Rawls. p. 205
7. Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle