Economic power structures persist only through explicit maintenance mechanisms

Evidence

Economic life exhibits a complex and relatively stable pattern of power and property relationships. The perpetuation of these social relationships, even over relatively short periods, is by no means automatic. As with a living organism, stability in the economic sphere is the result of explicit mechanisms constituted to maintain and extend the dominant patterns of power and privilege. We call the sum total of these mechanisms and their actions the reproduction process. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 1125

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the book’s central concept of the reproduction process — the explicit mechanisms maintaining class structure over time.
• XREF: connects to: Economic control patterns persist regardless of capital ownership form — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 602; Exploitative agrarian structures can persist after their original causes vanish — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1609; Hierarchy persists through individual, institutional, and subordinate-side processes jointly — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology: Key Readings, 3191

Broader Connections

• Exploitative agrarian structures can persist after their original causes vanish #exemplifies (0.90) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1609
• Economic control patterns persist regardless of capital ownership form #corroborates (0.85) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 602
• Hierarchy persists through individual, institutional, and subordinate-side processes jointly #expands (0.80) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3191