Assignment Content

For this assignment, you will be expected to write a 4-6 page (1000-1500 words) paper using the existing course materials.

One of the central questions that this course asks is whether capitalism is a rational economic system.Through our lessons we are asking whether it makes sense, for people, to let the market be the central and determining factor in our lives.In the world today, nearly every person on this planet is dependent on the market for their survival; as such, we need to consider what to do about it.

The most immediate way we experience this market dependence is through our jobs. As working people, we spend most of our life creating profits for someone else, in exchange for a wage. This paper is an opportunity for you to connect your own personal experience of work with the theory and data you have learned in this course.

Your assignment is to tell me about a job you have had, and show me how your experience of that job relates to what you have learned about capitalism. You can choose whatever aspects of the job you want to, but remember thatthe goal is to show me how your real-world experience connects to the content we learned in class.(Naturally, I will not be sharing your papers with your bosses, so you don't need to worry about getting in trouble for criticizing them. But if it worries you, it is perfectly ok to change the name of the company.)

Although much of the essay will be about the job in question, this is an academic assignment, not just a diary. You need to draw from and reference the course materials. You can talk about the modules, the videos, the readings, or films, whatever is most useful to illustrate how your job fit into the world of capitalism. You might think, "I remember when ___ happened at my job at Starbucks. This reminds me of what the professor said in Video 8 when he said "____." It also reminds me of that statistic from Module 3, which was ____."

Honest, real work will get a better grade anyway. In this assignment I want to hear from you, I want you to write as though you were speaking to me: clearly and directly. Writing clearly can be challenging. I'm not talking about grammar and spelling, I'm talking about whether someone can sit down and read what you've written and understand your point.This is why you should write simply and clearly. Do not try to dazzle your audience with the big words you know (because maybe you don't actually know them). Do not try to construct really long complicated sentences. This usually backfires! Write in the same way you speak, and write as if you need the person reading it to understand exactly what you mean. That way, your ideas will shine through, and will not get lost in confusing sentences and big words.

When you do take ideas or quotes from the course materials, which I will expect you to do, you must cite it. I don't care what format you use, the point is to communicate to me what you are drawing from so that I can see that you understand it correctly. If you quote something make sure you understand what it means, do not just throw random quotes into essays. Show me that you've gone through and understood the material well enough that you have an opinion about it.