An overview of the American Economy
1. Introduction
Leading the charge in terms of economical size, measured by annual GDP, among all nations in the world is the United States (US) (World Bank, 2015). When considering the level of advancement among countries, the US is also probably the most technologically powerful and is constantly at or near the forefront in technological advances (CIA, 2015). The US is no doubt the most observed and studied upon country by economists as any impact on its economy tends to ripple throughout the world.
Despite being the top economy in the world, the US still faces multiple long-term issues that are yet to be resolved, such as the stagnation of wages for lower-income families and the rising medical costs of an aging population (CIA, 2015). However, the most prominent issue as of late was probably shone under the spotlight in 2013 as its government agencies underwent a brief shutdown due to excessive deficit spending (McCullough, 2013).
Notwithstanding the long-term issues, the US has managed to sustain the position of being the top economy in the world since the end of World War II. Its advantage over its counterparts, however, gradually narrowed over the years and in 2014, was finally superseded by China in terms of GDP in terms of purchasing power (Bird, 2014). Nonetheless, the US remains as the largest economy in terms of nominal GDP and is still regarded as the most important economy in the world given its presence in many different aspects.
2. Production Output Performance Analysis
2.1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
The strength of a nation’s economy is typically measured via its GDP value on an annual basis. There are, however, a few different types of GDP and the most important above all is to understanding the difference of nominal GDP and real GDP. Nominal GDP measures the value of its GDP at the current price level. Real GDP, on the other hand, takes into account the changes in price level and adjusts the value based on the rate of inflation (Nordhaus, n.d.).
2.2 Historical U.S. Real GDP Data
In billions of dollars, the US produced 13,606 of output in the first quarter of 2004. Its GDP figure then grew at a constant rate before tumbling in the period of the subprime mortgage crises and resuming growth up to 15,761 by the fourth quarter of 2013 (FRED, 2015a). This is equivalent to compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 1.48% over the period of ten years.
The stable growth in the US’s GDP figure is even more discernible in Figure 2 (below) as it indicates an average of approximately 2% real GDP change in percentage from a year ago. The annual growth rate also reached a historical low in the midst of the great financial crisis (GFC) in the second quarter of 2009 at about -4%.
Aside from the real GDP and its growth rate, one other indicator also plays an important part in measuring an economy’s strength, namely GDP per capita. GDP per capita essentially takes the total output of a country and divides the figure by the total amount of population in the corresponding country (Investopedia, n.d.). GDP per capita is widely regarded by economists as one of the most important indicator due to its nature of measurement. For instance, comparing China’s raw GDP figure with Singapore’s would draw meaningless conclusions due to the vast difference in population.
Through the availability of GDP per capita data, economists can compare the efficiency of nations via an apple-to-apple comparison. Evidently, the US’s GDP per capita figures are in line with its real GDP figures as it displays a similar trend where it was growing at a steady rate before the GFC. Led by Qatar, the US ranks 11th in terms of GDP per capita as of 2015 in the world (IMF, 2015).
2.3 Real GDP Analysis
Whether it is nominal, real or per capita, it is no doubt that GDP figures play a vital role in assessing the strength of an economy. With an average of 2% historical GDP growth rate, the US has always been a leading powerhouse in terms of economic fundamentals. However, due to its economical positioning, the US was also the root of various infamous global crisis.
Aside from the Great Depression, a monumental disaster to the economists made history when the subprime mortgage bubble burst in 2008. In light of the severity of crisis following the fall of major investment banks, the US responded with a series of monetary policies, including but not limited to, bank “stress tests” and financial institutions bailouts (Mishkin, 2011). US’s central bank, Federal Reserve (FED), also commenced quantitative easing (QE) programs where it engaged in aggressive asset purchasing to supply money into the economy, resulting in the depreciation of USD by 4-11% (Chen et al., 2015). Furthermore, the FED also implemented zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP) where it brought its interest rates to a range of 0% – 0.25%, to which it still remains to date.
One might argue that the policies US undertook is too radical and repercussions may only surface in the long run. However, it is undeniable that the policies were effective as it successfully brought the US out of recession back to a route of stable growth as shown in Figure 1.
3. Labour Market Analysis
3.1 Types of Unemployment
Simply put, unemployment is a situation where an individual is looking for an employment opportunity but is futile in doing so (Beggs, n.d.). There are primarily three types of unemployment in an economy, namely ‘Frictional’, ‘Structural’ and ‘Cyclical’.
As Mark Thoma (2010) explains, frictional unemployment occurs as long as there are people moving or changing occupations within the labour force. An important feature of this type of unemployment is that it is voluntary on the part of the laborer. Structural unemployment, on the other hand, is involuntary and arises when an economy undergoes a fundamental shift in technologies or from changes in the composition of outputs, causing a mismatch between the skills of workers and what is required by the economy. This type of unemployment was the most palpable during the age of industrialization. Third and lastly, cyclical unemployment, is present when workers are out of job due to business cycle fluctuations.
It is commonly heard that economies strive for full employment. However, it is worthwhile to note here that ‘full’ employment do not really mean that every single person in the labour force is employed. Instead, full employment is merely a level where cyclical unemployment is at zero. In fact, a literal full employment is undesirable as it will drive wages and inflation higher, something which policymakers do not wish for (Henley, 2014).
3.2 Historical U.S. Unemployment Rates
An economy’s unemployment condition is usually correlated to its GDP level. Figure 4 (below) plots the annual unemployment rate during the period of 2004-2013. During the peak of the crisis when US’s economy contracted by -4%, the unemployment figure spiked to 9.9%, a level that second only to 1982 levels (FRED, 2015b). The surge in unemployment during crisis can be categorized to being cyclical as the economy was then undergoing a period of bust. Hence, workers were out of job primarily due to business cycle fluctuations.
3.3 Labour Force Analysis
Looking at the raw data of unemployment may provide a skewed picture as it does not take into account the changes in demographics and size of the labour force. Unfortunately, this is the case for the US. While the overall unemployment rate signifies a declining trend, if not stable, the same applies for its labour force participation rate
As data from the US Labor Department shows, the participation rate has been on a declining trend, reaching 62.6%, the lowest level since October 1977 (Stilwell, 2015). With reference to the statistics, an individual might thus argue that the decrease in unemployment is not to be attributed to the improving job condition but instead, to the fact that workers have been leaving the labour force. While critics are quick to blame Obama for its liberal policies, shifts in demographics is instead the primary culprit to this phenomenon as the US faces an aging population as baby boomers are gradually retiring the workforce (Philips, 2014). Nonetheless, the US government has been creating more jobs in the economy in hopes of lessening the adverse impact brought upon by its demographic shifts.
4. Price Level Analysis
4.1 Inflation
There is a reason why economists use real GDP as opposed to nominal GDP when assessing an economy’s health, and it is because of inflation. Inflation is “a sustained increase in the aggregate or general price level in an economy” (EconomicsHelp, 2015).
Year on year inflation can be calculated by dividing the change in consumer price index (CPI) by the previous year’s figure. While a common worker might find inflation harmful due to the increase in cost of living, economists and policymakers view inflation as helpful due to the increase in standard of living. However, not any amount of inflation is a positive sign. An inflation rate too high would suggest a hyperinflationary situation whereas a prolonged low inflation rate is termed as lowflation.
As Bayraktar & Saatcioglu (n.d.) puts it, there are primarily two types of inflation: Demand-Pull and Cost-Push. Demand-pull inflation occurs when the level of aggregate demand in an economy exceeds the level of output that the economy is producing. Due to such market shortages, the price level increases, resulting in inflation. Cost-push inflation, on the other hand, occurs when there is an increase in production costs, primarily in labour, capital, land and entrepreneurship. The increase in costs then puts upward pressure on the price level, resulting in inflation.
4.2 Historical U.S. Inflation Rates
During the historical inflation rates from 2004 to 2013, the US averaged about 2.4% inflation rate annually. While price levels have been fairly stable, the subprime crisis proved to hurt once again as inflation once shot to 5.8% before plunging down to a deflation of 0.2%. Notwithstanding the period of turmoil, the US is said to be rather successful in achieving its target inflation rate of 2% (Avent, 2015). As most countries generally strive to achieve a constant inflation rate of 2%, it is however important to note here that there is no single rate of inflation that applies in every economy (S., 1973).
4.3 Price Level Analysis
While there are notable cases of hyperinflation in some countries, few are aware that US itself has had its own sort of hyperinflation. Over the period of 1940 to 2005, the USD has lost 98% of its purchasing power via inflation. However, since the deterioration took place over the span of 65 years, the American population is unaware that their savings were eroded (Elliott, 2007).
Aside from hyperinflations or deflations, one tell-tale sign that the economy is ailing is through the phenomenon of stagflation. Stagflation is a situation where prices rise while national output decreases simultaneously and unemployment rises (Elliott, 2007). Evidently, the US went through a brief period of stagflation during the first phase of the crisis, before plummeting down to a deflationary state. The US government, however, were quick to act. Through aggressive fiscal stimulus and QE programs, the FED pumped huge amounts of money into the system and at the same time, managed to bring interest rates to near-zero. As such, price levels regained growth and the US government successfully steered the country out of deflation (Blinder & Zandl, 2010).
As important as it is to bring the US out of deflation, it is also vital for price levels to stay there. Henceforth, the US were reluctant to bring its fiscal and monetary policies to an abrupt end in fear of an economy “shock”. As a result, even though QE programs were terminated in 2014, interest rates persisted at near zero range to date (Monaghan, 2014).
5. Conclusion
Aspects of an economy are generally non-independent. For instance, Chow & Megdal (1978) studied the tradeoff between inflation and unemployment. Likewise, high unemployment tend to result in low output in an economy. As such, the three fundamental aspects discussed above display a similar trend over the same period.
The glory of being the top economy of the world does not come without a price. Due to the prestigious position, the policy choices and economical decisions of the US are constantly under heavy scrutiny as one wrong move will, more often than not, ripple throughout the world, especially since globalization. Nonetheless, the US government has time and time again proven that they deserve this prominence given the economical results it has provided historically.
6. References
Avent, R. (2015, September 13). Why The Fed Targets 2% Inflation. Retrieved from The Economist: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/09/economist-explains-7
Bayraktar, A., & Saatcioglu, C. (n.d.). Inflation and IMF Stabilization Programmes In Turkey. Retrieved from Dokuz Eylül University: https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=13&ved=0ahUKEwj3jLOU-rnJAhXNVY4KHScIB-k4ChAWCCcwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.deu.edu.tr%2Fuserweb%2Fdilek.seymen%2Fdosyalar%2Fahmet-cengiz%2520-inflation%2520and%2520IMF%2520stabilization%2520pro
Beggs, J. (n.d.). Types of Unemployment. Retrieved from About – Economics: http://economics.about.com/od/unemployment-category/a/Types-Of-Unemployment.htm
Bird, M. (2014, October 8). China Just Overtook The US As The World’s Largest Economy. Retrieved from Business Insider Markets: http://www.businessinsider.sg/china-overtakes-us-as-worlds-largest-economy-2014-10/?r=US&IR=T#.Vlvj3PkrIuU
Blinder, A. S., & Zandl, M. (2010, July 27). How The Great Recession Was Brought To An End. Retrieved from Economy: https://www.economy.com/mark-zandi/documents/End-of-Great-Recession.pdf
Chen, Q., Filardo, A., He, D., & Zhu, F. (2015). Financial Crisis, US Unconventional Monetary Policy and International Spillovers. Journal of International Money and Finance, 1-39.
Chow, G. C., & Megdal, S. B. (1978). An Econometric Definition of The Inflation-Unemployment Tradeoff. The American Economic Review, 446-453.
CIA. (2015, November 19). The World Factbook. Retrieved from Central Intelligence Agency Library: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html
EconomicsHelp. (2015, November 1). Definition of Inflation. Retrieved from Economics Help: http://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/inflation/definition/
Elliott, K. (2007). An Empirical Identification of an Appropriate Inflation Definition and an Inflation-Targeting Monetary Polcy. Washington: Walden University.
FRED. (2015a, November 24). Real Gross Domestic Product. Retrieved from Federal Reserve Economic Data: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/GDPC1
FRED. (2015b, November 6). Civilian Unemployment Rate. Retrieved from Federal Reserve Economic Data: https://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/UNRATE
Henley, J. (2014, April 1). What Does Full Employment Mean? Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2014/apr/01/what-does-full-employment-mean-george-osborne-britain
IMF. (2015, June 5). International Monetary Fund World Economic Outlook (April-2015). Retrieved from International Monetary Fund: http://statisticstimes.com/economy/projected-world-gdp-capita-ranking.php
Investopedia. (n.d.). Per Capita GDP. Retrieved from Investopedia: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/per-capita-gdp.asp
McCullough, I. (2013, October 3). Why Did The U.S. Government Shut Down In October 2013? Retrieved from Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/10/03/why-did-the-u-s-government-shut-down-in-october-2013/
Mishkin, F. S. (2011). Over The Cliff: From The Subprime To The Global Financial Crisis. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 49-70.
Monaghan, A. (2014, October 29). US Federal Reserve To End Quantitative Easing Programme. Retrieved from The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/29/us-federal-reserve-end-quantitative-easing-programme
Nordhaus, W. (n.d.). Yale Documents. Retrieved from http://www.econ.yale.edu/~nordhaus/homepage/documents/Computers_chainindex_001.pdf
Philips, M. (2014, November 4). The Chart Obama-Haters Love Most – And The Truth Behind It. Retrieved from Quartz: http://qz.com/286213/the-chart-obama-haters-love-most-and-the-truth-behind-it/
S., D. (1973). Inflation. Science, 549.
Stilwell, V. (2015, July 3). This Is Why Participation In The U.S. Workforce Has Plunged To Its Lowest Since 1977. Retrieved from BloombergBusiness: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-02/this-is-why-participation-in-the-american-workforce-has-plunged-to-its-lowest-since-1977
Thoma, M. (2010, August 5). Is The Unemployment Problem Cyclical or Structural? Retrieved from CBS MoneyWatch: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-the-unemployment-problem-cyclical-or-structural/
TradingEconomics. (2015a, November 1). United States GDP per capita. Retrieved from Trading Economics: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/gdp-per-capita
TradingEconomics. (2015b, December 1). United States Inflation Rate. Retrieved from Trading Economics: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi
US Department of Labor. (2015, November 30). Labor Force Statistics From The Current Population Survey. Retrieved from Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS11300000
World Bank. (2015). GDP (current US$). Retrieved from World Bank Data: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?order=wbapi_data_value_2014+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=asc
How are African Americans Portrayed in Hollywood Movies?
Guidelines
1. How many African American figures appear in this movie? What percentage does it occupies? (i.e. 1 out of 8 are African American.)
2. What roles are these African American figures playing in the movie? (Occupations, gender, etc.) What Social classes are they representing?
3. Do these African American have any criminal background or are they involved with crimes?
4. How frequent do these African American characters appear on the screen (How many times do they get casted)?
5. How did these characters end up? (the ending of the movie)
6. What kind of stereotype does this movie have to African American?
7. What kind of self-identity do these African American characters have?
8. What are the social inequality between the African American figures and White figures in this movie?
9. Do these African American have friends and family? What personalities do they have when they are in these above relationships?
10. Are these African American characters the main focus of the movie (do they play main characters?)?
Cultural and Ethnic Studies
After the World War II, the U.S. has advanced rapidly in both culture and science. People in general felt optimistic about the future. However, they also had the fear that they might lose the good things they had (hard-headed realism), especially under the threat of communism in the cold war. The contrast between the fear and the optimism formed the unique American culture that is often expressed in the popular culture. For example, the film noir expressed the fear in the mind, while some comedy and TV (or movie) romance expressed the optimism. The classic duos expressed the conflict into humors.
The optimism and fear also expressed in social and political aspect of the American culture. The people who are obsessed with fear wanted Vietnam War, and they also want to control the culture. Unfortunately, our pop culture is filled with so much social engineering manipulation from those people. The TV romance is often not real. The content of the TV shows is used to influence our mind so we do not care about what is really happen. However, there is still hope, since there is the root of the optimism in the original American culture.
This paper is comparing and contrasting Hard-Headed Realism in American popular culture with Comedy Romance, and Classic Duos that also predominate in American popular culture.
How people of the Great Basin adapted hunting strategies to the changing climate during the Holocene
This study examines the archaeological record of hunting strategies used in the Great Basin region of the United States during the Holocene. Concentrating on the evidence of past human lifeways and how hunting tools and patterns change during the Holocene. Investigations into the climate change during this time and the effect of human hunting strategies. This study will consider the climate stresses and the effect it had on types of prey available at different times during the Holocene. How these changes in prey led to human population and foraging changes or adaptions to the environment.
To what extent did mediaeval stereotypes of students reflect reality in English mediaeval universities?
Firstly i would like you to use the sources i will provide below. Please make effort to use this 4 sources. This is very important since my professor wants me to include them.
1. Cobban A. B., English University Life in the Middle Ages (London, 1999) Link: http://0-site.ebrary.com.library.ada.edu.az/lib/azdipacad/reader.action?docID=10017686 Focus in particular on the introduction and chapters 1 and 6 but you may want to look at others too 2. Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (London 2006). You should treat this as your main primary source. Read the critical introduction for background to the text. Then focus on the depictions of students in the general prologue (lines 286-310 – the word is ‘clerk’ – basically a student) then read the Miller’s Tale and the Reeve’s Tale.This will provide you with an understanding of student stereotypes which you can then contrast with the reality. to make it easier here are the summaries http://www.shmoop.com/millers-tale/summary.html http://www.shmoop.com/reeves-tale/summary.html *The texts are also available online: http://pages.towson.edu/duncan/chaucer/duallang3.htm http://english.fsu.edu/canterbury/miller.html http://ummutility.umm.maine.edu/necastro/chaucer/translation/ct/04rvt.html. 3. Blockmans W. and Hoppenbrouwers P., Introduction to Medieval Europe 300-1500 (London and New York), 277-289 Also gives a good overview of the mediaeval university movement
Please highlight a problem and focus on the aim. Introduction need to have a thesis statement it is very important. Essay must answer the question provided below and critically analysed. Also bring counter arguments . In the main body every paragraph should have topic sentence which indicates the main idea
The Decline of the Women’s Liberation Movement How the Internal Divergence of Institutions Played a Role
From 1967 until roughly 1975, the Women’s Liberation Movement strived to bring gender equality to the United States. Fueled by the discrimination of women on both the social and professional level, women’s group associated with the movement structured themselves in ways that would fit the needs of their goals. In doing this, the Women’s Liberations Movement experienced a high level of division and competition within itself. Eventually, after a ten year span, the movement declined without bringing much change to the role of women in society. This paper seeks to understand what caused the decline of the Women’s Liberation Movement before it attained its objectives. In doing this, the research will examine the various institutions that composed the movement and how their competing structures and styles may have played a role in its decline.
The Women’s Liberation Movement failed to create unity among feminists women during its roughly ten years in existence (Ryan 1989). This in turn caused many of the goals held by women groups to never be fully realized. Possessing all the necessary tools of a successful social movement, Women’s Liberation Movement declined before it was able to achieve gender equality. In regards to this, there is debate over what caused its decline. While some believe that society was ill-prepared for true parity among the sexes at the time, a more logical and compelling reason for the movement’s decline is due to the conflict that existed within in.
During the 1960’s, Women’s Liberation Movement came into existence in order to liberate women from gender-based discrimination. Having roots in the first-wave of feminism that gained suffrage for women, the second-wave was seen as the answer to the inequalities that still existed between genders in society. Although it contained the necessary components of a social movement, such as a preexisting communication system, a co-optable network, and a catalyst, the Women’s Liberation Movement was unable to attain much success before its demise.
The following paper examines why such a movement, that had the necessary support base and channels through which to act, was unable to achieve its goals. Moreover, it also examines why it was incapable of maintaining its strength as a movement. The focus of this paper will examine the internal conflict that existed between the older and the younger branches of the Women’s Liberation Movement. It will also further examine the conflict that occurred within those branches themselves. Taking the approach of institutionalism, the research will show that the institutional make-up of a social movement matters, and that the lack of cohesion between its institutions led to the decline of the Women’s Liberation Movement.
During the1960’s and through the 1970’s, the Women’s Liberation Movement became one of the strongest movements of its time. Occurring over forty years after the first movement centered around women’s suffrage, this “second wave” focused on achieving further social and professional parity between the genders. At the time, more women were being drawn out of the home and into the workplace once strictly inhabited by men and with this transition came a progressive movement to challenge the status quo. The movement attempted to obtain gender equality in the workplace for women and the recognition that a female’s place in society was not limited to the domestic sphere. For the most part, authors researched on the subject agree that the movement did transform the status of women in some sectors of society. Yet, while the women’s liberation movement gained ground in its goals, it never fully achieved its overall objective of complete gender equality before it began to decline during the mid-1970’s. Today, more than forty years after this second wave, women still make less pay than men for the same job, significantly fewer women are in managerial roles than their male counterparts, and the duties of child-raising and keeping a household are still thought to be primarily a woman’s responsibility. Therefore, why is it that the Women’s Liberation movement declined before its ultimate goal of gender equality was fully achieved? The scholars among this debate hold differing opinions on this, ranging from economic implications, to a society’s class structure, to the successes and failures of the institutions within the movement’s organizations.
The feminist economics school of thought focuses on achieving economic equality among the sexes. Within this school, it is the economic conditions that drive politics. The main objective of it, within the Women’s Liberation Movement, is for females to achieve financial gains in the private sector. Feminist economists see such gains as not only pertinent to attaining gender equality but the main focus of it. Therefore, scholars within this school of thought tend to believe that equality has been reached when significant gains in the economic conditions of women have been made.
In the article, “Whatever happened to the women’s movement?” Myrna Wood, Dorothy Smith and Tammy Findlay use a feminist economist approach to exploring why the Women’s Liberation Movement has declined. They state that women’s freedom relied heavily upon the need to change society’s economic system. Under this view, it is thought that “women’s independence depends on her paycheck” (Findlay, Smith, and Wood 2003). The article states that there was a need to focus on the economic issues of women, and this was accomplished through females becoming more involved in unions who fought for equal pay among the sexes. Women in the movement pushed to educate men that they were equal to them in not only their social but also their economic needs (Findlay 2003). According to this article, short of the ever present glass ceiling in the workplace, women’s equality has been achieved in the realm of economic parity. The authors consider the Women’s Liberation Movement to have been a success as the woman who once fought for economic equality has now, “got a degree and moved into the executive office….married and can afford the best care and schools for her 2.1 children… gained equality with her brothers.”(Findlay 2003). Therefore, in accordance with this view, the Women’s Liberation Movement declined simply because it achieved its objective. The authors appear to hold the belief that economic equality between men and women had been accomplished and therefore the movement was no longer needed.
This article does a good job in highlighting the need for economic parity between the sexes. Equal pay was a main component of what the Women’s Liberation Movement hoped to achieve. However, it was not the only element. Therefore, while the authors of this article stress the importance of changing the economic system to make it more equal among the genders, they failed to consider other important factors for achieving women’s equality. Along these lines, the article neglects to address the need for social equality. Can one truly say they are equal solely because they make money more in-line with their male counterpart, yet are still politically and socially thought of as the weaker sex? Does one’s economic success truly determine your social worth? If the feminist economic determinist school of thought was correct, and achieving economic equality meant gender equality was therefore achieved, then there would be no such thing as a glass ceiling for women in business today. However, the article itself states that this still exists, yet seemingly dismisses it. If there was true equality, especially in the realm of economic matters, then once this was achieved the glass ceiling would have been shattered. Also, can one truly say that financial equality has been reached if women are still notably making less money than men for the same work? This is something the article also seems to ignore. True economic equality would have men and women who do the same work on the same economic level, which is not the case today. In summary, instead of exclusively centering on the need economic equality, the feminist economist school of thought would be stronger if it focused on this as just one piece of a larger idea of what gender equality is. It would also be less susceptible to criticism if it noted that while true economic equality among the sexes has not yet been achieved, society has been making progress in this area. Furthermore, feminist economists should note that financial fairness is only a small step in the overall plan of what needs to be achieved in order to obtain full gender equality.
The Marxist feminism perspective states that an individual is heavily influenced by the class structure of a society. Within this, scholars see gender oppression as existing hand-in-hand with class oppression. For Marxist feminists, class oppression is generated by capitalism. To them, capitalism needs to be dismantled so that a society’s class structure can be destroyed and women can ultimately be liberated. Therefore, within this school of thought, if the conflict and differing ideologies between the classes involved in a movement cannot be rectified, the movement’s objectives will never be realized. In regards to the Women’s Liberation Movement, Marxist feminist scholars in see the division between the classes of those working to obtain gender equality as the main component behind its decline.
Marlene Dixon’s article, “The Rise and Demise of Women’s Liberation: A Class Analysis,” takes a Marxist feminist approach to exploring what caused the decline of the Women’s Liberation Movement during the mid-1970’s. According to Dixon, it was the evident divide between the middle-class women (what she deemed the “feminists”) and the early left-activist organizers of the working-class (labeled the “politicos”), and their inability to work within the same context of what needed to be achieved, which eventually led to the movement’s demise. The feminists were a new level of middle-class women who sought wealth and education to bring the goals of the movement more in line with their own class and political interests (Dixon 1977). They saw men as the main enemy to both women and overall gender equality. In contrast, the interests of the politicos were driven by the struggles of working-class women made up by the majority of females who were being oppressed and exploited. Differing from the feminists, they viewed the practice of male supremacy, and not men themselves, as the primary enemy to the movement’s success. To counter this, politicos sought to engage and unify both men and women of the “exploited class against a common class enemy in order to transcend the division and conflict sexism created between them” (Dixon 1977). Therefore, while feminists in the middle-class viewed men as the obstacle to overcome to achieve gender equality, politicos of the working-class saw that cooperation between men and women was necessary to conquer the practice of male supremacy.
However, what allowed these opposing views among the two classes, in regards to what was hindering gender equality, to persist for a length of time within the movement? As Dixon points out, it was the appearance of “sisterhood” that disguised the internal contradictions among them. The author states that, “all women do not have the same interests, needs, desires” (Dixon 1977). As a result, there will be natural disagreements between the interests and needs of working-class women and middle-class women, between women who are students and those who are professionals, between women with different education levels, and between women of color and white women. Sisterhood attempted to deny that such differences existed between the various factions of women. It therefore also denied that while women may be commonly oppressed, this oppression differed in results among the separate social classes (Dixon 1977). These denials allowed groups within the Women’s Liberation Movement to continue to work towards their individual goals although they contradicted each other at times. Eventually, according to Dixon, struggle over the leadership of the movement between the middle-class and the working-class members led to the decline of the women’s movement. The feminist middle-class’ “anti-male” approach won out over the politicos who were deemed to be too “male-identifying” (Dixon 1977). From this transition, the movement was reduced to issues that primarily affected the middle-class and isolated itself from working-class women. Therefore, it was the needs and interests of one social class that dominated those of the other social classes, and that also lead to the movement’s decline (Dixon 1977).
What is compelling about the Marxist feminist approach and Marlene Dixon’s article is that they recognize the need for agreement among the classes involved in the movement. Without such agreement, those involved in the movement will not only be fighting for gender equality, they will also be fighting amongst each other over what the means to achieve it should be and the results that they hope to ultimately attain. As this noted school of thought points out, class structure must be disintegrated in order to get those aiming to attain gender equality on the same level of how this should be achieved and what needs to be accomplished in order to do so. This will help ensure that the interests and needs of those involved in such a movement as the Women’s Liberation Movement will be more similar than dissimilar, as seen between the feminists and the politicos. It will then also aid in structuring a necessary, mutually beneficial strategy to realize the movement’s universal goals.
Yet, this approach as to why the movement declined, based upon the differences among the classes, does not answer why one class could not have succeeded without the other. Even if the middle-class and the working-class members were never able to bring their views together, what prevented at least one of them from maintaining the movement? Dixon points out that the middle-class eventually came to dominate the movement, yet why did it not stay in this position? It could not have been that its goals were accomplished because men and women of that class were still not viewed as equals by the time the movement declined. It could also not have been that it was not a large enough force to achieve its objectives as it is noted that the size of a social movement is not a main determinate of its success. The middle-class women within the movement also seemed to hold a common objective, were organized and were also able to establish their goals. What then denied them the ability to continue the movement until they reached what they set out to achieve? If only one social class remains in the movement and it contains the tools necessary to realize its objectives, what is impeding it from succeeding? This is something that Dixon and the Marxist feminist approach do not focus enough on, and offer no answers to.
Feminist institutionalism stresses the importance of institutions in attaining gender equality. For scholars under this school of thought, institutions matter. Institutions can be the elements and rules within the movement’s political system. It is the rules and elements of an institution that help provide the framework to structure its members’ behavior, by supplying incentives that encourage some behaviors and discourage others. In this approach, all the elements must work together to achieve full parity for women in relation to men. As a result, if one component of the movement fails, the whole movement then risks complete failure. Therefore, feminist institutionalism stresses collective action among the institutions involved in a movement. It highlights that in order for a movement to achieve its goal it has to have all of its parts working together towards it, as the institutions are stronger as a collective whole than they as individual actors. Here, the frameworks of the involved institutions, and their cooperation among each other, are important to the movement’s overall success.
Suzanne Staggenborg takes a feminist institutionalism approach to what caused the decline of the Women’s Liberation Movement in her article, “Stability and Innovation in the Women’s Movement: A Comparison of Two Movement Organizations.” In this article, Staggenborg compares the institutional frameworks of the Chicago NOW organization and the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (CWLU), to determine why they either succeeded or failed in their struggle for gender equality. According to the author, “structural arrangements affect the ability to solve key internal problems” (Staggenborg 1989). While the CWLU has now become defunct, and the Chicago Now organization is not as powerful as it once was, the author analyzed how their individual structures hindered them from achieving their objectives. Both organizations structured themselves very differently, and also engaged in diverse activities. However, through her analyses of these two organizations, Staggenborg determines that a combination of their structures would have lead to a more solid and influential organization than what either individual one could achieve on their own (Staggenborg 1989).
Chicago Now’s structure was formal and centralized, which therefore facilitated its organizational stability and growth, and prevented internal conflict. However, the organization’s strategies and tactics for attaining its goals were narrowed within this structure, and innovation was minimal. As a result, the group became stalled by its devotion to organizational maintenance. In comparison, the CWLU was informal and decentralized, which helped promote its strategic innovations in realizing its goals by allowing different members to experiment with a variety of means to do so. Yet, without a clear organizational structure it was unable to solve key problems that arose due to its decentralized nature. This eventually led to its decline. Therefore, under the realm of feminist institutionalism, Staggenborg highlights how a group’s structure and framework matters to its ultimate goal. Both of the organizations noted above had structures that allowed them to succeed in some areas, yet fail in others.
Staggenborg stresses that collaboration among the institutional structures of Chicago NOW and CWLU is not only possible but necessary in order to achieve their similar goal of gender equality. Feminist institutionalism believes that collective action and cooperation is achievable between the different institutions involved. Staggenborg therefore suggests that if an organization can both be formal and centralized while also allowing for innovation; it will possess the framework necessary for realizing its objective. However, Staggenborg highlights in her article that the Chicago NOW organization could not be innovative in its strategies because it was formalized and centralized, and the CWLU could not be well organized because it allowed for high levels of innovation (Staggenborg 1898). She therefore appears to contradict herself by pushing for collective action among institutions that she previously stated would not work together in an organization’s structure. However, the most significant aspect of this article is it’s affirmation that institutions within movements matter. In addition that competing institutions within a movement can ultimately lead to its demise.
While the strength of this article and feminist institutionalism lies in the collective cooperation among the different institutions involved in an organization’s structure, this also becomes its weakness. An ideal world assumes that all parts can work together to realize one common goal. Staggenborg and the feminist institutionalism approach appear to believe this is possible to accomplish, and would therefore ensure the sustainability of the Women’s Liberation Movement and its objective to achieve women’s equality. However, as Staggenborg herself noted, innovation will be limited by a high devotion to organizational maintenance tasks, and in comparison, centralization of an organization’s bureaucracy will be limited by high levels of innovation. Therefore, while collective action among the different institutions involved in the structures of women’s movement organizations is ideal, it is not plausible. If Staggenborg’s article acknowledged the fact that the institutional make-up of a movement mattered, but did not go as far as to claim that competing structures can be combined her article would be much credible.
Feminist economist view the only component necessary to achieve gender equality is economic equality among the sexes. Yet, it fails to understand that financial equality is only one part of what is needed to attain gender parity. Most notably, it ignores the need for social and cultural parity between men and women, and therefore offers only a weak approach to why the Women’s Liberation Movement declined without achieving its goal of equal rights among genders. Scholars within the Marxist feminism school of thought believe that the existence of differences among the social classes was the leading hindrance to the Women’s Liberation Movement, and what eventually led to its decline. By destroying the class structure, women would eventually be liberated. Yet, this approach, and its corresponding article, does not answer the question of why the middle-class feminists were unable to achieve their goals when they were the dominating and, at times, only viable force within the movement.
Feminist institutionalism believe that institutions involved in the women’s movement not only mattered but could have worked together, in a cohesive nature, towards the common goal of gender equality. However, this approach seems to ignore the fact that the institutions that worked best for some of the individual organizations involved in the Women’s Liberation movement actually contradicted each other. Therefore, it is impossible to combine them and have them utilized by one institution at the same time.
However, regardless of the weaknesses of the institutionalism approach, its acknowledgement that the structures of the institutions within the movement makes it the most compelling argument of why the Women’s Liberation Movement declined. It is able to establish that equality was not achieved solely because economic gains were made, in comparison to feminist economism, and that the class structure of the society held the most power in the movement’s ability to attain its objectives, in comparison to the feminist Marxism. Rather, feminist institutionalism highlights that it is the internal structure of the organizations that make up the movement, how they are controlled, how they interact with each other and how they coincide with each other or not, that is the most important analysis of why the decline in the Women’s Liberation Movement occurred.