Madison Kidwell – Popular Meanings of Capitalism

Interview Project Reflection

Before doing each of the interviews, I had some preconceived notions about what the people I was interviewing were going to say, and I had already subconsciously predetermined how I thought the different interviewees were going to differ from each other. I think in some ways this was a drawback of how I conducted the interview process because when picking people to interview I had an idea of what I thought they were going to say to an extent or the perspective that I wanted them to specifically give me, instead of picking people who I would learn from (because of a unique perspective I have not experienced or been exposed to by other individuals) or be surprised by. All three of the interviewees were either college educated or currently in college, white, from Northern Virginia, and identified currently as upper-middle class. Furthermore, two of the interviewees were in their 20s (choosing to interview someone who was in their 50s was my attempt at getting a different perspective into the mix- but reflecting now I think I could have done this more effectively). I think that it would have been interesting to interview people who do not fit into all these categories because it would give a wider perspective on what people know about Capitalism and what they think about different things relating to Capitalism. While I was very interested to hear from the people that I interviewed, I did know them all personally, so I think that it would have been more interesting to broaden my scope and interview people that I knew more from an academic and/or professional environment that I was less familiar with.

I thought that the interviewees, especially CA and AL, would not agree on much of anything and I thought that JT would align more with CA than AL. However, while there are differences that I have discussed in the various interviews CA, AL, and JT do have some similarities in thoughts towards the subject of Capitalism. One of the biggest similarities that I did not discuss much during the interview posts, were the interviewees’ discussions on political alignment and their relationship with Capitalism as a result. All three of the interviewees backed up a large portion of what they believed in with a discussion of their political beliefs.For example, during the first interview with AL, right from the beginning she discussed how she had a negative feeling towards Capitalism because of her liberal views and how Capitalistic ideals do not often match up with her views. CA also shared a similar sentiment, discussing how because he had conservitive political views related to the economy he supported a more Capitalistic

JT did not express a correlation between his political views and opinions on Capitalism in as straightforward as a way as CA and AL did (he seemed more reserved on discussion of politics than the other two interviewees) but he did mention at one point during the interview that he was more conservative economically because he was worried about how his money was being impacted by the government. I think that it is really interesting how all three interviewees discussed political alignment in their discussion of Capitalism because that was not a discussion that we had during our class or a big concern throughout the books that we read for the class, but seemed to be of concern to the people that I was interviewing, and a concern to people that other students in the class interviewed.

Another similarity that all three interviewees had was their concern about how different people are treated differently under Capitalism, and how it often hurts those who are economically disadvantaged. CA discussed how he was concerned about how those with “low-skilled labor” were being impacted by the Capitalist system because the system benefits those those with “high-skilled labor” more, and often rewards “high-skilled labor” with certain privileges. AL also discussed how the system makes it so that those who are not economically advantaged are often stuck in that low economic place and are not often able to get out. JT shared a similar opinion, and he discussed how there is often a poverty cycle under Capitalism.

Out of the three interviews only one of the people seemed comfortable discussing Capitalism, while the other two seemed very intimidated by having to define what Capitalism was and its various attributes. CA was who seemed the most comfortable discussing Capitalism, and I think this is because he noted that he enjoys economics, has taken classes that discussed Capitalism, and has done personal research on it. Meanwhile, AL and JT specifically told me when I asked if I could interview them, that they were not very familiar with explaining Capitalism and did not feel like they knew enough to discuss it. I was very interested when they said this because I was intrigued to see how they would explain a topic that they did not feel like they could explain well. Both AL and JT basically told me that they felt like their schooling did not prepare them to full understand or explain all the complexities of what Capitalism is and how it functions. Personally I felt very similar to AL and JT before taking this class, and still do in some ways. Capitalism is a very complex topic and can feel very intimidating to someone who has not received education on it or has done their own personal research. However, I think that it is a beneficial conversation to have and I have really enjoyed interviewing people on the topic and reading classmate’s interview posts.

“does not impact everyone in an equal way”

Introduction:

JT is a 54- year old white male who works in the medical field in Nuclear Medicine. JT noted that he had a lower middle-class class upbringing but now is upper middle-class. His parents worked in retail and were not college educated, and he said that he had to work very hard to go to college. He received his degree and originally worked in a hospital setting but started working in a private practice setting at his current job 20 years ago. JT noted that his political alignment is more Moderate then anything else.

I decided that I wanted to interview JT because I wanted to hear the perspective of someone who had more life and career experience than the last two people that I interviewed. The last two people that I interviewed were both in their 20s, with one being towards the end of college and one being a couple years post-grad, and I wanted to hear from someone who was older and would thus probably have different views and opinions on Capitalism.While I had a feeling that the first two people that I interviewed would possibly not agree on many things due to their political beliefs and I had a general idea of what they would think about many of the questions, I went into this interview not knowing at all what JT would think about Capitalism or many of these questions. I was very interested in asking him these questions because this was never a conversation that we have had before, and I knew that JT was not very familiar with the history of Capitalism or economics.

How do you define Capitalism?

When asked to define the term Capitalism JT said that the term was hard to define off the top of his head but that he thinks it is an economic system where companies are owned by private companies instead of by the government where the private companies are competing to make the most money and create the most products. JT noted that while this is a term that is spoken about a lot it is not something that he has thought about in depth in terms of what it really means definition wise. Furthermore noting, that it is a concept he is broadly familiar with but not very confident in speaking about in depth

What role do you see Capitalism playing in your daily life?

JT thinks that Capitalism plays a significant role in both his life and everyone’s lives. He discussed how people are impacted differently under Capitalism due to their economic status and how much work (and luck) they are able to put into building themselves or a company, as well as their role as an employee. JT also discussed how his interactions with Capitalism have changed since when he was young under his parents’ “stretched” financial support and while he was young supporting himself in college and through his young adulthood, to now as a middle aged man decades post college and established into his career. This brought up a chat about how people who are financially stable or even better yet, well off, are able to live much more comfortably in a Capitalistic society than someone who is in a rough spot financially and does not have the means to support themselves. He elaborated saying that if you do not have the means to live in a Capitalistic society, then Capitalism is not going to help you like it is able to help and build those who do have the means to live within the society comfortably, noting that unfortunately many people can never get ahead and are stuck in a cycle. JT also brought up in response to this question how he has seen many people work very hard and go from basically nothing to successful. He gave the example of a boss who was able to build his multimillion dollar company with lots of hard work even though he went into his adulthood in poverty and had no familial or financial support. JT did emphasize that this, however, is not physically possible for everyone because not everyone is able to get that lucky even if they put years of hard work and effort in.

How do you think Capitalism interacts with the media?

When asked this question, JT explained that he thinks Capitalism interacts with media in a lot of ways but the main way that he sees is through brand advertisements and product placements. He gave the example of how when he is watching movies he often sees specific brands of items being integrated into the background of the scene, noting that while usually a bottle of ketchup will just say ketchup but if the heinz ketchup brand wanted to advertise their product they will pay to have the heinz bottle in the movie. JT elaborated more about advertisements discussing how social media and the internet has really expanded how much advertising there is and how effective it is. He shared how advertising has changed from being focused on TV and radio (and even door to door salesmen) to being mainly focused to social media and the internet. JT also brought up how he has noticed that the companies are very intentional with the advertisements that they create and when they air them on the TV, radio, and online because they know who their customer base is and what they usually watch; noting that he can even remember women’s hair product advertisements always being played during the soap operas his mom watched but never during sports games that his dad where the advertisements were mainly male oriented.

What are some negative aspects of Capitalism?

When asked what the negative aspects of Capitalism were JT said that the main one he could think of was that not everyone is treated fairly under the system, and that while the wealthy are able to really succeed, more often than not those who are facing poverty are put in a positon where they are constantly struggling and not able to come out of that cycle of struggle.

What are some positive aspects of Capitalism?

JT said that while there are negatives to Capitalism there are also many positive things to it. The main two being the freedom of being able to grow and own your own business and products without a ton of government intervention and the vast availability of products to purchase since the companies are competing for people to buy the “best” product.

How do you think your parents viewed capitalism in comparison to you?

JT said that he is not really sure about how his parents viewed Capitalism because that was never a conversation that he had with them. He noted that he or his siblings never talked to his parents about money but that growing up money was very tight and it felt obvious to him that they were living paycheck to paycheck because they only ever had just the pure necessities and were never able to do much. JT noted that because of this his parents would say that they were never able to get ahead. He believes that they probably had a difficult relationship with Capitalism and money as a whole.

How has Capitalism changed throughout your life?

When asked this question, JT said that the biggest change he has noticed is how much more products and companies are pushed onto consumers compared to while he was growing up. He discussed how social media and the internet has made products much more accessible and more advertised, especially since in the past when someone wanted to buy something they would either have to buy it in store or through a shopping catalog.

Reflection:

Going into this interview I really did not know what to expect for many of JT’s answers because he is often very private about sharing many of his opinions, and before this interview I did not even know how he aligned politically because it was just never a discussion that we had together. This made this interview the most exciting out of the total three that I conducted because with CA and AL I had a general idea of what I thought they would say going into the interview and I had a feeling their opinions might differ in comparison to each other but I had no ideas on what JT would think. I found it interesting to hear about how much he has noticed social media and the internet has changed and evolved Capitalism (mainly advertisements), and how it was very different when he was young. Unlike CA and AL, JT grew up without the internet and social media so advertisements and companies interacted while he was a child and in his young adulthood were experienced in a very different way then they have been the past 20- 25 years.

Overall, I do believe that many of JT’s opinions on Capitalism are in many ways rooted in his upbringing that was tight financially and in the amount of effort he felt like he had to put into making it to college and building a more financially secure and successful life for himself then his parents ever got to experience. While he does believe in the importance of hardwork in building a good life he also emphasized how difficult this can be for people and how often it is not as simple as just working hard because many people are stuck in a cycle. JT, along with my other interviewees, also noted the system of Capitalism impacts those of lower economic status in a way that makes it especially hard for them. Going forth, I am interested in if this is a flaw that most people find in Capitalism or if my three interviewees just happened to all believe this.

“it is company first, instead of people first like it should be”

Introduction:

AL is a 21-year old white female who is in her senior year of college, and beginning grad school in the fall. AL noted that she had a lower middle-class upbringing as a child but a more upper middle-class experience once in high school and college. AL also grew up in a military family, and had lived in multiple different states. Her father joined the Navy without a college education and eventually through online schooling earned his master’s degree, and her mother has a high school diploma. AL noted that their political alignment is very liberal which has an impact on many of her feelings about economic systems but that she was not that confident in her ability to discuss capitalism.

I decided to interview AL because I had a feeling that I would get a very different perspective from her than from the last person that I interviewed, which intrigued me. I was also interested to see how informed someone who did not explicitly say they were interested in economics, or the history of Capitalism would be.

How do you define Capitalism?

When asked “How do you define Capitalism?”, she initially seemed to struggle to address the question but then said that it seems like a network of private ownership of companies and capitalizing off of people. AL explicitly notes that she has a negative connotation towards Capitalism although some people might not and that at it’s root is might not be as negative as she looks at it. At the end of answering this question AL says that she can’t really define it because it is complicated to understand fully.

What role do you see Capitalism playing in your daily life?

AL believes that so many things are impacted in her daily life my Capitalism. She discussed how she believes so many people feel entitled to scam and mistreat other people just because of the position that they play in the capitalistic society. AL gives the example of internships and how the company uses that free labor in order to benefit their companies, and how that is only allowed because of how we live in a society that values money above people. This hurts people who are not able to provide free labor because they need to pay bills and don’t have that privilege from pursuing internships and opportunities that they need to advance their career and status. AL emphasizes that capitalism serves the privileged and hurts those who are not privileged and keeps classist cycles going.

Do you believe that Capitalism is inherent to society?

AL does not believe that Capitalism is inherent to society because there are many places that do not have a Capitalistic society but that it is now inherent to American society because America is fundamentally capitalistic in nature.

How do you think Capitalism interacts with the media?

AL noted that Capitalism interacts within the media she consumes a lot differently than in media older generations might consume or people who do not align politically with her would consume. She further discussed how much of the media she consumes is more against capitalism like she is and is humanist in nature. She said that, “My media tends to be swayed towards a people first approach and capitalism does not always do that in the ways I see it should.”. AL also discussed marketing from companies and how this is especially apparent with the beauty industry, saying that “you can see it with the beauty industry they are already marketing anti-ageing products to us and we are only in our 20s. They are trying to capitalize off of our fears of ageing as if that’s the worst thing to happen.”. She further discusses how as a marketing tactic to make money the beauty industry made ageing, a process that is so natural, seem so evil to the point where millions of dollars are spent on those products and companies are competing to make the most money off of those insecurities.

What are some negative aspects of Capitalism?

The main negative aspect that AL noted was that Capitalism is structured to keep people who are not economically advantaged at a low level and it creates a lot of situations for those people as a result. AL also said that it often bothers her how its very company first instead of people first like she believes it should be because the companies should be serving the people. It disappoints her how in our society everything is about making profit for the companies instead of the people that are within the society.

What are some positive aspects of Capitalism?

AL believes that there are some positive aspects of capitalism such as it breeding creativity for better and more effective products and services.

How do you think your parents view capitalism in comparison to you?

AL believes that her parents because of their more conservative views probably like capitalism and see it as beneficial or at least don’t really question it as much as she does. However, she notes that she has never had that specific conversation with them, so she is not fully sure.

Reflection:

I was not necessarily surprised by the responses that AL gave me because we have had discussions about the ethics surrounding our economy and she has told me before how she believes that our economy and society should be more focused on benefiting the consumer (the people) than the companies. I do, however, think that it is very interesting that she found answering some of the questions difficult because she is earning her degree in Business Administration and I had just assumed that capitalism was a topic that they would have discussed at some point in business classes. Her knowledge on capitalism aligns more with what I was familiar with before taking this class and establishing more concrete ideas on Capitalism. I believe that many student’s in college who have not taken extensive economics classes or have a specific interest in economics and learning about Capitalism would also find it difficult to approach the concept of Capitalism.

Overall, AL’s opinions on Capitalism do seem very rooted in her political beliefs and concerns of the ethicality of the system. It was very interesting to compare AL’s responses to the last person I interviewed because going into it I had a feeling that they would be very different interviews because I know that they hold very different political beliefs and beliefs on how money should be allocated. AL was more concerned about the people hurt by capitalism while CA was concerned with how Capitalism expanded opportunities and technological innovations. However, both interviewees mentioned that those with less economic privilege can be hurt within the system of capitalism, and that it benefits those with more economic privileges, showing that even though they might have different core beliefs they both have overlapping opinions.

“the natural way of doing things”

CA is a 24-year old white male from Northern Virginia, who works as a Software Engineer. Before beginning his career as a Software Engineer, he received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in Computer Science from George Mason University. CA had a middle-class upbringing in Northern Virginia with college educated parents who both worked in the medical field. CA noted that his political alignment is moderate, and that he is interested in economics and the history of Capitalism but is not a pro with it. He had taken some economics classes in college but most of his knowledge is from personal research and how he enjoys looking at everything through an analytical lense.

I decided to interview CA because we typically do not agree on many economic or political ideas. I thought it would be interesting to hear from someone who I typically do not engage in such conversation about, and is typically far more analytical in nature then I am about many topics.

How do you define Capitalism?

I began the interview with the question of “How do you define Capitalism?”. CA stated that “Capitalism is an economic system where businesses are owned and controlled by private owners instead of owned by the government”, and that “within the system there is competition to gain the most profit”. Once this definition was given I asked him if was he familiar or comfortable in discussing the concept of Capitalism, and when he said “Yes”, I asked when he first became familiar with it. CA noted that he remembers first becoming familiar with the concept of Capitalism when he was around late- middle school / early- high school, but that he had heard about it before then but didn’t fully get it.

What role do you see Capitalism playing in your daily life?

When asked this question, CA stated that Capitalism plays a big role in his life because it encourages companies to provide more advanced goods and services for our daily lives that he gets to consume, and that as an employee of a company he is a small part of the system (noting “supply and demand of labor”). CA further stated that “Most things you see are at least somewhat in result of Capitalism”, and that while he doesn’t believe 100% of our lives are impacted by Capitalism because we don’t live in a 100% Capitalistic society, that at least 70-80% of our lives are impacted by it because of the nature of Capitalism and how the economy works in the US.

Do you believe that Capitalism is inherent to society?

CA believes that in many ways capitalism is inherent to society because as humans we naturally want to provide as much as we can for our families and ourselves, and that in order to do so we want as many resources and options as possible and that in order to obtain those resources there is competition for them. He notes that in many ways Capitalism is “the natural way of doing things”. I followed up this question asking him, “Why do you think this?”. He answered that it is human nature to survive and that if there aren’t enough resources out there or there is a limited number of resources, as humans we strive to create those resources, and once we have those we will continue wanting more and more variety of resources to benefit from.

How do you think Capitalism interacts with the media?

I asked the question of “How do you think Capitalism interacts with the media?” because I know that CA consumes media differently than I do (especially social media where he follows different people and trends), and I was interested to hear how his interpretation could be different than mine.

The first thing that CA said when I asked this question was “targeted ads”, and that ads were one of the biggest things he thinks of when he thinks about the interaction between Capitalism and the media. He stated that since there is so much competition between companies to sell their products to people, that they have to create advertisements for people to think that they have the best product, and that nowadays he sees it mainly through targeted ads to consumers. He also talked about the impact of Capitalism on news media, discussing how the news can push specific products or ideas so that the public will want to support that product more. He gave an example of how this is happening with the marijuana industry. He talked about how people are investing so much money into these companies and many different companies are being created with similar products, but their products are not even legal everywhere and cannot even be consumed in every state yet. However, news media and other forms of media are discussing these companies and the debate of whether or not marijuana should be legal and in what capacities, which influences public opinion on the debate and pushing specific narratives. In some cases, it could be pushing the idea that it is a good thing to be legalized everywhere and if that media company is in support of a specific company, that specific company now benefits from the media push. He ends this example by arguing that it is obviously not 100% Capitalism in that example because the government does and would interfere on what is and is not legal with marijuana products, but that public opinion on goods and services can and will be skewed based on what the media says.

What are some positive aspects of Capitalism?

CA gave a list of positive aspects when asked this question. Those aspects being: efficient workers, usually increased GDP within a country, usually has lower taxes (has negatives too of course), usually lower consumer prices for goods because companies are being competitive, and investment in companies. He said that the biggest things that are positive aspects about Capitalism are that usually people are willing to work harder because they need to, that because there is so much competition between companies there are lower prices for goods, and that there is newer and better technology as a result of Capitalism. I asked him if he feels like he benefits from the impact of Capitalism on technology because he works in a tech field, and he said 100%, and that another pro of Capitalism is that it benefits people performing high-skilled labor.

What are some negative aspects of Capitalism?

After discussing how people performing high-skilled labor can benefit from Capitalism, CA stated that a negative of Capitalism is that it hurts people performing low-skilled labor. People performing high-skilled labor will inherently be more privileged than those performing low-skilled labor. Some other negative aspects of Capitalism that he stated were: wealth gap, the focus on consumption and how we use a lot of resources that we probably shouldn’t be needing to use, questionable welfare systems, in some cases monopolies, and possible tension within society. CA further argues that a full Capitalistic society is very bad and that there needs to be balance and regulation in order for Capitalism to exist peacefully.

How do you think Capitalism has evolved over the years?

CA stated that the definition of Capitalism has not changed but Capitalism as a whole has changed within our country, and that we become more or less capitalistic depending on who is in office. CA believes we have become less capitalistic and have been leaning towards different systems with more government influence within businesses. He discussed how he heard there were talks about having our internet be government ran instead of privately ran- and how this shows a shift away from more capitalistic ideals in the US because the government wants to keep the necessary things for life more federalized.

How do you think your parents view capitalism in comparison to you?

When asked this question CA did not seem to have a distinct opinion on how his parents viewed Capitalism, other than they obviously benefit from the variety of goods that they can buy as a result. However, he did note that he sees it more at the root of how Capitalism is a system where people have to fight for what they want in the sense of working hard and smart, and it being a root of human nature- then they probably do. He stated that his father is more pro-capitalist for the medical field than he is because his father works in the field and has critiques and experiences that he will never fully understand because he works in a different field. Overall, he was not very sure because he had never really discussed it with his parents before.

Are people’s views of capitalism generationally different?

The last question that I asked CA was “Are people’s views of Capitalism generationally different?”, and he said “Yes”. He elaborated explaining how many people now (most people at least) have really only experienced a pretty good quality of life in terms of medical care, technology, air conditioning, heating, etc., that people in the past did not have access to, and that as a whole we take those things for granted because we now have better access to reasonable prices and inventions because of how much competition there is. We now live in a time when we can get products fast and at a good price compared to the past when it was a slower, more expensive process. He also notes that this generation takes a lot more for granted and not many people want to look back at the history books and see how things were in the past in different countries that older generations were scared of coming to the US (such as Communism).