Income inequality and unequal opportunity are inseparable manifestations of capitalist structure

Evidence

A fundamental error in the liberal theory of a trend toward equality of economic opportunity, we believe, is the notion that inequality of income and inequality of economic opportunity are fundamentally distinct and analytically separate phenomena. Our approach is to explain both forms of inequality as inseparable manifestations of the underlying structure of eco­ nomic life. — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 846

Categorization

• DEFINE: Key conceptual move of the book: fusing two analytic categories liberals keep separate.
• XREF: connects to: Rising inequality pushes capitalism to extract profit from unpaid social participation. — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 166; Structural inequality has redistributed trillions from American workers to the richest — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 84; Schooling replaced the frontier as capitalism’s safety valve for unequal opportunity — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 177 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Capitalism structurally requires excess for some and deprivation for others #corroborates (0.90) — James D. Kirylo (ed.), Reinventing Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1094
• Capitalist-worker exchange is formally equal but substantively unequal #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 1365
• Income inequality reflects relative bargaining power between actor groups, not markets #complicates (0.70) — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 36
• Inequality dimensions reflect one institutional shift toward financialization #complicates (0.70) — Ken-Hou Lin & Donald Tomaskovic-Devey, Financialization and U.S. Income…, 25