Annotated Bibliography

Equality vs. Efficiency: What should society value more, and how do we achieve it? 

Engels, Frederick. "The Condition of the Working Class in England." Conditions of the Working-Class in England Index. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

This book, which was written by Engels in Manchester during the Industrial Revolution (as said by Johnson), argues that the effects of industrialization on the working class was extremely negative. He describes the inequalities inherent in the system and the exploitative nature of capitalism in England

Johnson, Steven. “The Myth of The Ant Queen.” The New Humanities Reader, edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer, Cengage Learnin, 2015, pp. 192-209.

Johnson describes in an objective tone the manner in which systems are capable of organizing themselves. This is based on a notion of "organized complexity", wherein millions of elements interact with one another under basic rules to form a macro-behavior. He specifically describes the city of Manchester, which while able to run itself in a laissez-faire fashion, was rampant with inequality.

Lethem, Jonathan. “The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism.” The New Humanities Reader, edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer, Cengage Learnin, 2015, pp. 211-234.

Lethem heavily criticizes the notion of intellectual property, saying that any and all information is a gift for the public to use. He specifically attacks Disney for what amounts to hoarding intellectual property, which ultimately hurts society.  Yet, Jefferson granted intellectual property rights centuries ago to promote the arts. This argument can be boiled down into what essentially is a criticism of government-granted monopolies, in this case on intellectual property

Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 1776. Accessed 26 October 2016.

Smith has the complete opposite argument of Engels. He argues that in an industrial society, people will attempt to fulfill their self needs in such a way that society's efficiency is maximized through competition and laissez-faire policies, a notion known as the "Invisible hand". This is an example of Johnson's self-organized system, and is the basis for American Capitalism. Despite this, even Smith recognizes the dangerous power of monopolies.

Stiglitz, Johnson. “Rent Seeking and the making of an unequal society.” The New Humanities Reader, edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer, Cengage Learnin, 2015, pp. 394-417.

Stiglitz is highly critical of both the government and powerful private institutions. Powerful individuals can engage in nonproductive economic activity known as "rent seeking", which is both extremely inefficient and perpetuates inequality. He argues that this arises as a result of the combination of bad government policy and unfettered capitalism, and that good government policy is needed for both the efficiency and the equality of an economy