Assignment for Week 3 (October 22)

Weber, Marx and Bourdieu all argue that various cultural structures (values, ideology, beliefs) uphold and support the social structure of capitalism. Though Marx and Weber disagree about the order of causation between capitalism and the cultural beliefs which support it, and which cultural beliefs those are.

Your assignment for next week is to identify something in United States culture that represents a cultural structure that upholds capitalism.  This can be an artifact of material culture (an object or image), a saying, or a popular individual.

For class on Wednesday:

1) Identify the example you have chosen.  You may bring in a picture, an object or simply right out a description.

2) Identify which cultural structure this example represents, and which theorist you would associate this example with.

3) Write a brief statement explaining how the example you have chosen represents the cultural structure you have chosen.

Be prepared to share you example with your peers.


Example Answer 1:

1) The popular saying attributed to Ben Franklin "A penny saved is a penny earned"

2) This saying represents the cultural structure of protestant asceticism as described by Weber.

3) Protestant asceticism was the value held by Protestants that one should live a life that is simple with few material comforts, this lent itself to Capitalism as it encouraged reinvestment of funds rather than spending funds on material possessions.  A penny saved is a penny earned encourages the saving of money rather than the spending of money on material comforts.