Economics: Society, Markets and [In]equality
Module 2: Common Good, Private Purposes | Paulo dos Santos
Lesson 2.3: The Ugly: Appropriations of Capital
Video 2/5: Profits and Ownership
In this third lesson of Module 2, Associate Professor Paulo dos Santos draws on a large number of contributions to consider a vital question about the social content of capitalist economies: In what ways do those economies rely on extractions from certain social groups and on individual appropriations from our collective or common resources? In other words, to what extent do profits depend on simply taking things from people and from the planet?
By the end of this video (2/5), learners will be able to:
— Explain how Adam Smith and Karl Marx both understood profits as appropriations by capitalists of the things workers produce, made possible by the fact that most people don’t have access to the tools, materials, and other resources that would allow them to produce goods themselves.
This video is part of a free course available on Coursera here ([ Ссылка ]). For more information about the course, including the full list of videos and reading list, please visit the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis here ([ Ссылка ]).
