QUIZ
Shift our lens on power
AGENDA
Put it together & Plan for next week
Understand capitalism as a system (Harvey)
IS105 Week FIVE Lecture Dr Nazanin Shahrokni Spring 2026
Follow crisis across the world (Hoang)
Watch key scenes from Inside Job
From Visible Violence → Economic Power
Core claim:
From this…
To this…
But the effects were just as real (2008):
Power works not only through violence, but through markets, money, and rules.
Harvey = how the system works
Hoang = where the costs land
• Battle of Algiers: soldiers, checkpoints, bombs
• Hotel Rwanda: militias, genocide
• The Atomic Café: nuclear threat
• mortgages, spreadsheets, derivatives, credit ratings
• homes lost • jobs lost • pensions gone • services cut • inequality grew
1. Capitalism has a specific logic
2. It requires endless growth
3. Growth hits barriers
Harvey’s Guiding Question Not: Who messed up?
But:
“What kind of system keeps producing crises again and again?”
7. (Hoang): Crisis travels unevenly across the world
The argument we will follow:
6. Crisis becomes likely
4. Capital turns to finance + debt
5. Instability increases
Capitalism as a MODE OF PRODUCTION
Capitalism = private profit + constant expansion organizing social life. If growth is required → crisis becomes likely.
Write your name. Use only one side of the card.
QUIZ:
In your own words, briefly explain what caused the 2008 financial crisis as shown in Inside Job.
Use at least one specific example from the film.
Notice that the film begins in Iceland (0:00–6:30), not Wall Street, already signaling that finance is global and that vulnerability sits at the “edges” of the system.
Was the state absent here or active in a different way? Who did policy seem to serve? (6:30-15:00)
What capitalism produces: COMMODITIES
• Home bread = food • Store bread = commodity Under capitalism, more becomes commodified:
housing • education • healthcare • water • data • online life Key point:
When everything is a commodity, social needs become secondary to profit.
Commodity =
Something made primarily for sale, not direct use.
The CIRCULATION OF CAPITAL (Marx’s cycle)M → C → P → C’ → M’
In plain English: 1. Money →
2. Buy labor + means of production →
3. Production →
4. Sale for profit →
5. Reinvest to expand Why this matters:
The cycle must keep growing; otherwise capitalism “falls over.”
BARRIERS TO ACCUMULATION
Capital hits limits:
Harvey’s insight:
Twist:
Capital treats limits as barriers to be overcome.Typical responses: • move production abroad • invent new finance • create new markets • expand debt
• too few workers
• too few consumers
• resource limits
• unions/politics
• weak profits
More power → more fragility
Where did you see Marx’s cycle operating and where did it look distorted or detached from real production? (15:00-31:00)
FINANCIALIZATION
Financialization =
Making profit mainly from money, credit & speculation rather than production.
Examples:
loans • stocks • mortgages • derivatives • trading
Problem:
Less making things → more inequality + instability.
Guiding question: If bankers get rich while production shrinks, where does the wealth come from?
Answer: extracted from workers, borrowers, and the public - often via debt.
Wage repression (since 1970s): wages kept low.But capitalism needs consumers → contradiction. Solution was not higher wages, but more credit: credit cards • student loans • car loans • mortgages Instead of paying people more, capitalism gave them debt. Result → housing bubble (the heart of Inside Job).
WAGE REPRESSION → DEBT
Harvey shows: capitalism moves problems elsewhere.
Hoang asks:
“When crisis moves, who absorbs the shock, and where?” Spiderweb Capitalism (definition):
A global web where: • Center = Wall Street, London, major hubs • Edges = weaker regulation, cheaper labor, less power When the center shakes (2008), the tremors spread outward.
Crisis travels
Capital has a passport; workers have borders.
Vietnam is considered a frontier market because it sits on the “frontier” of global capitalism - meaning it is further out on the edge of economic and financial development than emerging markets, but still rapidly integrating into the world economy. The term suggests a place that is less explored, riskier, and less institutionally mature, yet full of potential.
Frontier markets = places with • weaker regulation • cheaper labor • fewer protections • high-profit opportunities After crises in the West, capital often moves here. Crisis is not solved — it is displaced along global inequalities.
FRONTIER MARKETS
systemic risk
Systemic risk =
Tensions built into capitalism itself; not just mistakes.
Two contradictions:
1. Capital needs workers but wants to pay them less
2. Capital needs consumers but low wages reduce buying power
Result:
Capitalism needs workers and customers; but keeps trying to make them poorer. Debt + financialization magnify this → crisis becomes likely.
Hoang shows: when crisis comes, it is unevenly shared across the spiderweb.
2008
Why 2008 was distinctive
Earlier crises: labor vs. capital 2008: finance vs. society Banks gained power to:
• shape laws
• influence universities
• write policy When things collapsed → banks rescued, people suffered.
Inside Job shows the center of the spiderweb.
Framing for watching Inside Job As you watch: • Harvey = the logic of crisis • Hoang = the geography of crisis • Inside Job = the center of the spiderweb Inside Job shows how the crisis was made; Harvey explains why it was inevitable; Hoang shows where its costs traveled. Ask yourself:
• Who speaks?
• Who is missing?
• Where do the consequences land beyond the U.S.?
How to Watch & Read for Next Week As you watch 13th and read Alexander (2012) and Chuang on Palestine and Xinjiang, pay attention to how race, state power, and capitalism work together- not separately. Ask yourself:
- How does the film show that mass incarceration is not just about crime, but about political economy and racial control?
- In what ways does Alexander’s idea of “colorblind racism” help explain why injustice can expand even when explicit racism declines?
- How do both the film and the readings suggest that racial inequality is produced and maintained through economic systems, laws, and institutions- not just attitudes?
- What does it mean to think of prisons, policing, and even settler rule in Palestine/Xinjiang as part of racial capitalism rather than simply state repression?
We are watching and reading not for facts alone, but to understand how power, profit, and race are structurally connected.
IS105_Week FIVE Lecture_Spring 2026
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Created on February 4, 2026
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Transcript
QUIZ
Shift our lens on power
AGENDA
Put it together & Plan for next week
Understand capitalism as a system (Harvey)
IS105 Week FIVE Lecture Dr Nazanin Shahrokni Spring 2026
Follow crisis across the world (Hoang)
Watch key scenes from Inside Job
From Visible Violence → Economic Power
Core claim:
From this…
To this…
But the effects were just as real (2008):
Power works not only through violence, but through markets, money, and rules. Harvey = how the system works Hoang = where the costs land
• Battle of Algiers: soldiers, checkpoints, bombs • Hotel Rwanda: militias, genocide • The Atomic Café: nuclear threat
• mortgages, spreadsheets, derivatives, credit ratings
• homes lost • jobs lost • pensions gone • services cut • inequality grew
1. Capitalism has a specific logic
2. It requires endless growth
3. Growth hits barriers
Harvey’s Guiding Question Not: Who messed up? But: “What kind of system keeps producing crises again and again?”
7. (Hoang): Crisis travels unevenly across the world
The argument we will follow:
6. Crisis becomes likely
4. Capital turns to finance + debt
5. Instability increases
Capitalism as a MODE OF PRODUCTION
Capitalism = private profit + constant expansion organizing social life. If growth is required → crisis becomes likely.
Write your name. Use only one side of the card.
QUIZ: In your own words, briefly explain what caused the 2008 financial crisis as shown in Inside Job. Use at least one specific example from the film.
Notice that the film begins in Iceland (0:00–6:30), not Wall Street, already signaling that finance is global and that vulnerability sits at the “edges” of the system.
Was the state absent here or active in a different way? Who did policy seem to serve? (6:30-15:00)
What capitalism produces: COMMODITIES
• Home bread = food • Store bread = commodity Under capitalism, more becomes commodified: housing • education • healthcare • water • data • online life Key point: When everything is a commodity, social needs become secondary to profit.
Commodity = Something made primarily for sale, not direct use.
The CIRCULATION OF CAPITAL (Marx’s cycle)M → C → P → C’ → M’
In plain English: 1. Money → 2. Buy labor + means of production → 3. Production → 4. Sale for profit → 5. Reinvest to expand Why this matters: The cycle must keep growing; otherwise capitalism “falls over.”
BARRIERS TO ACCUMULATION
Capital hits limits:
Harvey’s insight:
Twist:
Capital treats limits as barriers to be overcome.Typical responses: • move production abroad • invent new finance • create new markets • expand debt
• too few workers • too few consumers • resource limits • unions/politics • weak profits
More power → more fragility
Where did you see Marx’s cycle operating and where did it look distorted or detached from real production? (15:00-31:00)
FINANCIALIZATION
Financialization = Making profit mainly from money, credit & speculation rather than production. Examples: loans • stocks • mortgages • derivatives • trading
Problem: Less making things → more inequality + instability.
Guiding question: If bankers get rich while production shrinks, where does the wealth come from? Answer: extracted from workers, borrowers, and the public - often via debt.
Wage repression (since 1970s): wages kept low.But capitalism needs consumers → contradiction. Solution was not higher wages, but more credit: credit cards • student loans • car loans • mortgages Instead of paying people more, capitalism gave them debt. Result → housing bubble (the heart of Inside Job).
WAGE REPRESSION → DEBT
Harvey shows: capitalism moves problems elsewhere. Hoang asks: “When crisis moves, who absorbs the shock, and where?” Spiderweb Capitalism (definition): A global web where: • Center = Wall Street, London, major hubs • Edges = weaker regulation, cheaper labor, less power When the center shakes (2008), the tremors spread outward.
Crisis travels
Capital has a passport; workers have borders.
Vietnam is considered a frontier market because it sits on the “frontier” of global capitalism - meaning it is further out on the edge of economic and financial development than emerging markets, but still rapidly integrating into the world economy. The term suggests a place that is less explored, riskier, and less institutionally mature, yet full of potential.
Frontier markets = places with • weaker regulation • cheaper labor • fewer protections • high-profit opportunities After crises in the West, capital often moves here. Crisis is not solved — it is displaced along global inequalities.
FRONTIER MARKETS
systemic risk
Systemic risk = Tensions built into capitalism itself; not just mistakes. Two contradictions: 1. Capital needs workers but wants to pay them less 2. Capital needs consumers but low wages reduce buying power
Result: Capitalism needs workers and customers; but keeps trying to make them poorer. Debt + financialization magnify this → crisis becomes likely. Hoang shows: when crisis comes, it is unevenly shared across the spiderweb.
2008
Why 2008 was distinctive
Earlier crises: labor vs. capital 2008: finance vs. society Banks gained power to: • shape laws • influence universities • write policy When things collapsed → banks rescued, people suffered.
Inside Job shows the center of the spiderweb.
Framing for watching Inside Job As you watch: • Harvey = the logic of crisis • Hoang = the geography of crisis • Inside Job = the center of the spiderweb Inside Job shows how the crisis was made; Harvey explains why it was inevitable; Hoang shows where its costs traveled. Ask yourself: • Who speaks? • Who is missing? • Where do the consequences land beyond the U.S.?
How to Watch & Read for Next Week As you watch 13th and read Alexander (2012) and Chuang on Palestine and Xinjiang, pay attention to how race, state power, and capitalism work together- not separately. Ask yourself:
- How does the film show that mass incarceration is not just about crime, but about political economy and racial control?
- In what ways does Alexander’s idea of “colorblind racism” help explain why injustice can expand even when explicit racism declines?
- How do both the film and the readings suggest that racial inequality is produced and maintained through economic systems, laws, and institutions- not just attitudes?
- What does it mean to think of prisons, policing, and even settler rule in Palestine/Xinjiang as part of racial capitalism rather than simply state repression?
We are watching and reading not for facts alone, but to understand how power, profit, and race are structurally connected.