Reading for the week of Jan. 28th

This week, we are concentrating on the work of Allen Johnson and his book "Privilege, Power and Difference". Since my groups presentation is on chapter 2, I will be concentrating on chapter 3, entitled "Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination". Johnson tries to convince his readers that privilege is basically controlled by capitalism, and still fuels the fire today. What people can sell or buy really depends on their status in society and what privilege they hold. He explains how capitalism works and its relation to class. He also states that "the richest 10 percent of the U.S. population holds more than two-thirds of all the wealth". This widens the gap between rich and poor, and making us even segregated than we first thought.
Some of the things Johnson talks about are history of race and gender in the relation to capitalism. Slavery was one of the glairing examples of capitalism in history, with the enslavement of millions. He goes on to talk about the manifest destiny that occured later in the move westward and its obvious connection to capitalism. Not only that, women have been held down in our capitalistic economy, often giving the excuse of paying them less and making women work secretarial jobs.
One question that I want to ask is why, in 2007, is this still happening? Women are still, on average, paid less than men for the same work and capitalism only benefits the people with the most money in their pockets. Those born without the silver spoon, which happen to mostly be minority, have a difficult time rising out of the situation they are in because of the low paying jobs available and the lack of opportunity. If we live in a land of freedom and opportunity, why are the wealthy the only ones that can afford it?
My reaction to the reading solidified my thoughts on capitalism and what is and is not fair for people. Economically speaking, it would be more efficient to have everyone working than having poverty and unemployment rate of 5%. The more people working with satisfying income will benefit the economy more. I'm not saying that communism is the right answer, far from it, but I believe the only way that we can have equality is to make sure everyone has a job that is fair pay throughout that field of industry.