Liberation For the 99%
LIBERATION FOR THE 99% Catalina Buitano
Marist College
Abstract
This paper will focus on determining whether racism, sexism, homophobia,
transphobia, and xenophobia are intrinsic characteristics of capitalism in the
United States, or if they are incidental to capitalism. If vessels of discrimination
and categorization are incidental, they can be eliminated from a capitalist society
without needing to dismantle the system entirely. I will argue that racism, sexism,
homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia are intrinsic characteristics of capitalism
in the United States. Therefore, legitimate liberation of marginalized people can
only be established after dismantling the entire system.
Introduction
I
n recent debates over whether inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist
activity or not, some proponents continue to claim that racism, sexism,
homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia are not inherently intertwined
aspects of the capitalist system. On this view, proponents emphasize that
correlation is not causation, arguing that structural and social inequalities
prevalent in American society can be eradicated without dismantling the system. In
what follows, I utilize a Marxist lens to argue that racism, sexism, homophobia,
transphobia, and xenophobia are intrinsic characteristics of capitalism in the
United States rather than incidental to capitalism, which would entail that these
vessels of discrimination and categorization exist independently of capitalism and
Volume VI (2023)
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