YOUR COFFEE EXPERIENCE, ECONOMIC SYSTEMS, AND SOCIAL CHANGE

Imagine you’re sitting in a coffee shop studying for your Social Change class. It’s loud, so you have your earbuds in. The coffee is a bit spendy, but today it feels like a price worth paying for a decent wi-fi connection. It smells like espresso and cinnamon rolls. The bottomless mug of coffee on your table barely fits into your budget, but regrettably a cinnamon roll does not. So there you are, immersed in an economic system, trying to wrap your head around an economic system.

“The economy” can feel like an abstraction. One might imagine it as a bunch of pie charts people in boardrooms argue over. But in fact, the economy is a major (maybe the major?) force that shapes the lives we’re all living and the people we’re all becoming. It is a force that determines who eats, buys ski boats, gets thrown out of their apartments by police, or vacations in Tulum, Mexico. It might even determine whether the person who made your coffee can make their rent this month.

Most people in the world today live within an economic system called “capitalism.” Capitalism is a type of economic and social system in which private businesses or corporations compete for profit. Goods, services, and many beings are defined as private property, and people sell their labor on the market for a wage.

So, capitalism is more than just a system of trade. Much more profoundly, it is a form of social organization imbued with specific values, priorities, and relationships of power. In many respects, we all live in the world that capitalism has made.

In this chapter, we’ll first outline what an economy is, and explain early sociology perspectives of economic change. Then, we’ll take a deep look at how the U.S. economy has changed over time. We’ll primarily focus on workers’ experiences, economic inequality inherent in our economic systems, and worker mobilizations designed to shift that inequality. The Starbucks workers in figure 6.1 who organized to have more say within their jobs are one example of how people can work together to create social change. Finally, we’ll explore new economic perspectives and models that better address poverty, inequality, and prioritize healthy living systems.

This chapter will encourage you to ask questions about the economic system and how it impacts your life and the lives of others.

• What creates lasting change in economic systems over time?
• How can class conflict, such as that expressed by organized labor, impact inequality?
• What effect do economic systems have on society and ecological systems?
• How can we build economic systems that better serve society and the planet?

Licenses and Attributions for Chapter Story

Open Content, Original

“Chapter Story” by Ben Cushing is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Open Content, Shared Previously

Figure 6.1. “Starbucks Protest” by Elliot Stoller is on Flickr and licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.