This document summarizes chapters 11 and 12 from the book "Political Economy: A Comparative Approach, 2nd Edition" by Barry Clark. Chapter 11 discusses different political economy perspectives on minorities and discrimination, including classical liberal, radical, conservative, and modern liberal views. Chapter 12 examines perspectives on the political economy of gender, including how classical liberal, radical, socialist, and conservative approaches explain issues like wage discrimination and gender roles. The summary provides overviews of the key arguments from each perspective on these topics.

1. Political Economy: A Comparative
Approach, 2nd Edition
By Barry Clark
Chapter 11 and Chapter 12 Analysis
Aitza M. Haddad Nunez
Spring 2015
Minorities and
Discrimination
& The Political
Economy of
Gender

2.  Introduction
 The Classical Liberal
Perspective
 The Radical Perspective
 The Conservative Perspective
 The Modern Liberal
Perspective
Chapter 12: The Political
Economy of Gender
(pp.210-240)
 Introduction
 The Classical Liberal
Perspective
 The Radical Perspective
 The Conservative Perspective
 The Modern Liberal
Perspective
Chapter 11: Minorities and
Discrimination (pp.203-218)
Overview

3. Introduction
 Political economists disagree on the definition of
discrimination (p.203)
Even the most narrow conception requires a method of
measuring individual productivity
 Many things influence productivity – Initiative, Motivation
 Each of the Four Perspectives in Political Economy has a
different interpretation of the role of minorities in society
Chapter 11: Minorities and
Discrimination

4.  All individuals have the right to compete freely in the market.
 The Freedom to Choose includes the Freedom to Exclude
 Therefore a prohibition to discrimination is a violation to this freedom
 The market is the best antidote to discrimination because its distributes
income in accordance to productivity penalizing only bigotry
 Profit speaks louder than prejudice in motivating human behavior
 Extent of discrimination
 Rate of return for investments in education among different racial
and ethnic groups
 Measure of the additional future income attributable to increased
years of schooling.
The Classical Liberal Perspective

5.  Schooling is only one of the variables affecting productivity
 Pay gap drops significantly when the measure includes other
variables such as quality of schooling, age, geographical location
and job experience
 There are also intangible factors that are impossible to measure
 Free market will not sustain discrimination
 Lower economic status is minorities is due to lower productivity
 Genetic inheritance or cultural norms
 Lower ability
 Preference for leisure and immediate gratification
 Government is the ultimate responsible for discrimination
 Thomas Sowell – Pressures to hire minorities
 Walter Williams – Legislation requiring equal pay
 Glenn Loury – Welfare programs

6.  Elimination of almost all government regulation on business
activity
 With less assistance, minorities will be more motivated to acquire
more skills
 Equal opportunity exists when no individual or group is either
advantage or disadvantage
 Affirmative action – reverse discrimination and disruption of the market
 Inefficiency due to allocation of persons to jobs based on criteria other than merit
 Equal opportunity – based solely on productive contribution
 Increased opportunities for minorities is evidence that discrimination is
fading
Responses to Discrimination

7.  Historical transformation from feudalism to capitalism
 Capitalism responsible for discrimination, and for integration of
diverse groups at the same time
 Rise of industry ripped apart medieval society with routine tasks,
impersonal relationships, and self-interested motivations
Labor = Mobile economic resource → Profit
 Society = The “other” is a rival, a threat to my survival ↔ Peaceful
exchange between isolated individuals pursuing private goals
 Hegel – Apparent opposites are actually part of a larger unity
The Radical Perspective

8.  Racial and ethnic distinction serves to preserve labor
hierarchy and legitimizes inequalities associated with
capitalism
 Poverty is the natural fate of people with personal deficiencies
 Outsiders are more easily tolerated
 The hostility towards racism is a product of capitalism
 Michael Reich
 Capitalist employers were the primary beneficiaries of discrimination,
while white workers benefited from increased solidarity and unionization
 An army of unemployed assures that many minorities will lack skills
 Victims of a systematic and institutional pattern of power
 Institutional discrimination enhances profitability
 The market will not secure equal opportunities for minorities

9.  Two strategies for combating discrimination:
1. Formation of interracial coalitions to pressure employers and
the government for programs to overcome the effects
2. Government policies to promote full employment and
economic growth
 These proposals challenge the interest in maintaining cheap labor,
which creates the need for annexation of new supplies of labor to
avoid slow accumulation of capital
 Collective implemented social justice requires greater
public control over the means of production
 Socialism as the ultimate solution to discrimination
Responses to Discrimination

10.  Hierarchical community without any logically imply any particular
attitude toward minority groups
 Racism implies that race should be a relevant factor in determining a
person’s political, economic, or social status
 IQ Tests – Because of their diminished capacities, minorities should be
denied equal rights, which is not immoral nor unjust
 Dismissed by Modern Liberals and Radicals as “culturally biased”
 No single test can objectively measure intelligence across cultures – Aptitudes
associated with intelligence in one culture may be insignificant for another
 Rejection of the “Brotherhood of Mankind”
 Edmund Burke – Praised the role of “prejudices” in instinctively stablish
loyalties and values
 Segregation is necessary to protect minority cultures in a pluralistic
society, as well as the dominant culture
The Conservative Perspective

11.  Less concerned with alleviating discrimination and more
with reestablishing segregation to minimize interaction
between different racial and ethnic groups
 Integration is unnatural – creates backlash of resentments from
the majority and a flood of rising expectations from minorities
 Government should only intervene to protect minorities from the
“tyranny of the majority” – Apartheid Systems
 Affirmative action – reverse discrimination
 Animosity from among Whites toward minorities
 Damages minorities’ psyches by tainting their accomplishments
 Segregation is necessary for identity formation
 Freedom is worthless without purpose
Responses to Discrimination

12.  Racial and ethnic conflict in industrial society are a product of
the inequitable access conditions of most minority groups
 A deprived background restricts opportunity for acquiring skills
 Minorities’ decisions about education and employment are
conditioned by a social system of structured subordination
 The market is not the only institution shaping society
 Economic activity is shared and shared through cultural practices
and power relations
 It will not end discrimination because is an arena in which powerful
groups seek to control competition to advance their own interests
 Competition is to imperfect to override deeply entrenched cultural biases
and unequal power
The Modern Liberal Perspective

13.  Discrimination may persist because the traditional values shaping
human behavior, reflect fear, ignorance, and the need to
maintain social harmony within a community
 This reality serves as a tool for assessments of economic realities of a
racist society
 Statistical Discrimination for Profit Maximization
 The costs of obtaining information about a person’s qualification may lead to
reliance on race and ethnicity as criteria for screening candidates and
predict productivity
 Segregation and discrimination = Low self-esteem of minorities
 One’s social environment shapes one’s self-image
 Lack of minorities in prominent positions = lack of role models for
raising aspirations
 Feedback effect – less invested time and money in acquiring skills

14.  Viable solutions must involve legal and structural changes as well
as in individual’s values
 Equal schooling and equal opportunity cannot fully compensate
for deprived family environments
 Redistribution of income and wealth – politically infeasible and
damaging to incentives
 Less ambitious financial assistance and government intervention
 Full employment could be a method to increase minority opportunities
 Affirmative action counterbalances the injustices of the past, and
assures greater opportunities for access to good jobs
 Market protects property rights – Government should protect human rights
 Multiculturalism – Restores pride by illuminating contributions and
achievements, which eliminates fear and ignorance
Responses to Discrimination

15. Introduction
 Political and economic theory have generally ignored the
division of humans into two sexes
 Women and men are so equal in status and role that need no
distinction, or women are so insignificant that need no mention
 Gender poses additional issues
 Anatomical differences
 Different behaviors, which suggests different interests and values
 In-Market Discrimination – unequal treatment of equally productive
persons
 Pre-Market – Arises from social institutions, such as school and family
Chapter 12: The Political
Economy of Gender

16.  All person are equally autonomous and self-interested
 No gender roles analysis – women were largely excluded of life
 Abolition of legal and political barriers will result in fair
treatment of both sexes
 Competitive market forces will eventually establish equal pay
for equal work
 Neoclassical economic theory – male resentment
 Male demand for higher wages would lead to the creation of
segregated worksites with equal earned wages
 Wage discrimination will end
The Classical Liberal Perspective

17. 1. Women’s abilities – Relative stability of gender roles over time
proves both sexes have different aptitudes
 Gary Becker – Women’s specialized domestic labor is traded for her
husband’s earnings
 Family – Producing unit of the most efficient division labor
 To the extent that occupational segregation and wage gap reflects
differences in abilities no injustice occur
 Communication and organizational skills will become more important
that physical prowess and use of intimidation leading to more women
in managerial positions
2. Women’s preferences – Rational choices of self-interested
individuals
 Social roles are chose in accordance to individual preferences
 Occupational segregation and the resulting wage gap is a result of
women’s preferences in education and jobs

18. 3. Market disequilibrium – Market has been unable to absorb
quickly all persons seeking work
 Excess supply of women
 More productive women will be better rewarded
 Gender wage gap smaller for younger women than for older
4. Government intervention – efforts are demeaning by
implying that women are less capable
 Men can secure legislation that protects their interest and
forces women to crow female occupations
 Laws prohibiting females from lifting heavy objects
 Equal pay laws discourage hiring of women because men can be
hired at the same cost

19.  Free market will eliminate gender discrimination
 Public life should be made gender-blind by eliminating all reference to
gender in laws and public policies
 Equal pay for equal work – only the market can determine the value of a job
and thus provide comparable worth of occupations
1. The assessed value of any job depends on the criteria used for its evaluation
 No objective method exists for selecting the criteria to be used
2. Comparable worth would perpetuate occupational segregation
 Raising wages in traditionally female occupations would reduce the incentives for women to enter
male dominated occupations
3. And would increase overall labor costs, reduce profits, eliminate jobs, and slow
economic growth
 Policies extending the logic of the market into the family
 Commodities should be allocated to those more willing and able to pay
 Market for the right to bear children – Voucher system retaining size freedom
 Federal Judge, Richard Posner – Market for babies
Policy Proposals

20.  Women will remain oppressed until the institutions of
marriage, family and religion fundamentally change
 Mary Wollstonecraft – women are socialized to be servants of
men
 Mere legal reform would not be sufficient to reach equal power
and financial independence
 Gender roles analysis began in the late 1960s led by intense
and sometimes bitter debates in the 1970s and 1980s about
advance the understanding of women’s oppression and
developing policies to end it
 Marxist ↔ Radicals ↔ Socialists
The Radical Perspective

21.  Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – Social roles are conditioned
by society’s production process
 Earliest communal societies were matriarchal until
technological progress led to male instituting private property
to stablish rights to the surplus
 Men’s desire to control women’s productivity turn women into
property
 Early capitalism worked because sexual division of labor and nuclear
family were strengthened through their contribution to the accumulation
of capital
 Unpaid tasks of women enabled employers to hire two workers for the price of
one and provided a supportive hoe for husbands to be prepared for work
 Matured capitalism increased demand for cheap labor
Marxist Feminism

22.  Capitalism is the enemy of both men and women - All
members of the working class lack control over their lives
 Pulled women out their homes and into the workplace
 Endanger of nuclear family – Employers replaced a “family wage”
with a wage adequate to support only a single person
 Men unable to support their families
 Women capable of financial independence
 Produced a rise in divorce rates, the disintegration of families, and the blurring
of gender roles due to a replacing of personal relations with a “cash nexus”
 Capitalism seeks to fragment and divide the working class
 Creates hostility between the sexes
 Assures steady supply of cheap labor
 Blaming each other diverts the attention from the real source
of frustration, which is the dominant power of capital lover
people

23.  Marxist explanation of gender roles implausible
 The root of women’s oppression is not economic but biological
 Men – violent, aggressive, domineering, and had historically sought to
oppress women
 Women – made vulnerable to oppression by their childbearing
functions, which makes them dependent on men
 Fighting against patriarchy should take precedence over capitalism
in order to eliminate women’s oppression
 Men dominate women for ego-gratification and a sense of power
 Women’s values are superior to the values emphasized by patriarchy
 Patriarchy creates violence against women, job discrimination and
conditions women’s self-image
 Femininity is a social construction that perpetuates male dominance
 Female identity defined by men – social roles inherently oppressive
Radical Feminism

24.  Capitalism and patriarchy reinforce each other
 Agree with Marxism emphasis on the social nature of human
consciousness
 Marxism is tainted by a male perspective – Fails to give an analysis
of the unique oppression faced by women
 Augmentation of Marxism by treating household production as
an integral component of society’s production process
 Recognition of the value of women’s housework for profitability
and capital accumulation
 Change in childrearing practices that suit children for the hierarchy
of capitalist production
Social Feminism

25.  Oppression of women can be solved:
 Marxists – Only by ending capitalism and making the transition
into a socialist society
 Socialization of the household
 Similar economic roles will end male domination
 Radicals – Only by developing separate “women-centered”
institutions and communities that exclude patriarchal culture
and male domination
 Test-tube babies offers an opportunity for biological autonomy
 Socialist – Only by the abolition of both capitalism and
patriarchy through a broad-based socialist movement
 Capitalism is already contributing to its own demise
Policy Proposals

26.  Emphasis on hierarchical authority based in gender roles:
 Sensitivity – Women are “other-oriented”
 Women are able to channel men’s aggressiveness and violent
nature into productive work and parenting
 Irrationality – Sigmund Freud’s “anatomy is destiny”
 Women have weak superegos – unfit for positions of responsibility
and authority
 Women act on instinct rather than on rational calculations of
consequences
 Women’s innate irrationality cannot be changed
 Passivity – Women are claimed to be weaker and more passive
 Women are disadvantaged in performing tasks requiring strength
The Conservative Perspective

27.  Society needs differentiated gender roles to remain healthy
 Gender differences are naturally complementary
 The breakdown of traditional roles and identities have deteriorated
the nuclear family, which contribute to immorality and economic
stagnation
 Personal development requires involvement in a web of hierarchical
social relations
 When adult gender roles are vague or ambiguous children will become
confused and thwarted in the development of their own personalities
 Three factors are to blame for this process:
1. Government – intrusion makes traditional authority figures less significant
 Inflation, high taxes, and foreign competition eroded male wages and forced
women to enter the labor market
2. The market – works on diametrically opposed principles than family
 Market fosters individualism while the family fosters collectivism
3. Feminism – Trend toward narcissism and selfishness in modern society
 Undermines men’s identity, attachment to work, and domestic responsibilities
 Traditional roles are inadequate – Women need to prove their worth

28.  Goal is revitalize the market’s potential for producing wealth while
protecting women and families from the corrosive impact of market
forces
 Government should consciously promote traditional values and gender
roles
 Making divorce more difficult, prohibiting abortion, making welfare less
accessible for women, prohibition of textbooks with nontraditional roles for
women, prenatal policies to combat a “birth dearth,” such as larger tax
deductions for families with children and public financial assistance with
childrearing
 Pessimistic about the future of gender roles and the family
 Inability of a “family wage” for men contributes to the breakdown of the
family, which undermines the economy with self-centered and poorly
socialized children who are ill-equipped to handle adult life
 Effective strategy must simultaneously deal with misguided government
policies, powerful economic forces, and the influence of feminism
Policy Proposals

29.  Issues have evolved through three distinct historical phases:
1. Female values contribute to a decent society and thus should be
protected by government from competitive market forces
 Support for legal restriction’s on women’s working hours and entry to
certain occupations
2. 1960s – Protective legislation perpetuates occupational segregation
 NOW – Elimination of all discriminatory laws and women stereotypes
 New laws and regulations to make capitalism more efficient and fair
3. 1970s – Equal rights and treatment was imposing unforeseen
burdens on women
 Differences between gender roles are likely to be reproduced
 Institutional changes are necessary to accommodate the different
needs and interests on women in the workplace
The Modern Liberal Perspective

30.  Discrimination is resistant to the market forces because:
1. Social conditioning to preferences
 Education tracking and perception of occupations as men work
 Demonstration effects – Absence of role models
 Feedback effects – Women rationally choose to bypass education
2. Imperfect competition
 Establishment of various barriers to entry into certain occupations
 Self-interested behaviors leads men to construct formal and informal
barriers to female competition
3. Domestic responsibilities
 Division of labor affects women's occupational choices
4. Sexist attitudes
 Psychological impact of societal norms in restraining economizing
behavior and concern about male workers’ morale
5. Statistical discrimination
 The lack of information about a woman’s productivity leads to
reliance on preconceived notions about women as a group

31.  Affirmative action – Require employers to make efforts to locate
qualified female and minority applicants for jobs
 “Comparable worth” – Market-determined wages can be unfair due to
discrimination and gender stereotyping
 The suitably shared of the financial burden of childrearing by both men
and women must override market-determined wages
 Can increase efficiency by contributing to women’s financial independence
and by enhancing their self-esteem
 Women’s childrearing activities create positive externalities
 Government should compensate women’s home efforts by setting their wages
above the level determined by supply and demand
 Marital property reform – secure married persons a legal right to 50/50
 Social security and employment compensation for home labor
 Improvement of the social structure of health care, social services, day
care and facilities for youth and elderly
 Flexible work schedules, paid leaves of absence for parenting, fringe
benefits for part-time work, and the option of job sharing
Policy Proposals

32. QUESTIONS