The most over-used phrase in America is "All you have to do is work hard to get ahead." Another one is the classic, "You can't have a million dollar dream with a minimum wage work ethic." Both of these exhausted ideas are busted by looking at the importance of economic and social capital.

Obviously, our capitalist system is not an equal one. One of the ways in which we're distinctly separated is by our economic and social classes. When we advance by making gains, we accumulate capital, which mobilizes us and enables us to more easily climb and gain more capital. The growth, then, is exponential. If we are born into a great deal of capital, it is immediately easier to gain more.

Economic capital is clear enough; we may call this wealth. It's about our money, our assets.

Social capital, on the other hand, is our position in society. It includes our network and the power of those with whom we hold relationships, our education, and the communities in which we are raised. For example, people raised by parents with college degrees have social capital because they are in positions to understand and help out with the processes of applications and financial aid and the dynamics of post-secondary education.

But there's another kind of capital that plays a role in our mobility. This is energy capital.

This is where my issue with the "minimum wage work ethic" concept arises. I've worked near-minimum-wage jobs. I've worked in fast food. And in every case, I am confident in stating that my coworkers and I worked extremely hard. When I worked at McDonald's, I would go home every day and collapse on the couch because it had taken everything out of me. Physically, my feet were killing me. Emotionally, I was exhausted and tense from being mistreated by customers who dehumanized me. And since I also wasn't making enough money to have extra economic capital, I had to dispense even more emotional energy once I got home to stress over finances.

One of the biggest critiques of fast food workers like myself is that we just need to work toward another job. Yes, that's very true. But the last thing I wanted to do when I got home was get on the job hunt; all I really wanted was to go to sleep. And since I had no connections (less social capital), this job search would take a lot more effort than someone who could contact a family friend.

Meanwhile, there exist people at the top who can make a great deal of money without working all that hard. Some can even get away with no work at all. Some can also then pay for cooks and nannies and housekeepers and wealth managers and tax professionals and tutors for their kids and plumbers and electricians and repairpeople and restaurants and so on and so forth. And they don't have to dispense nearly as much energy.

Now, I don't want to insist that energy capital is always linked to higher economic or social capital. Many people with a lot of economic and social capital work extremely hard. Similarly, there do exist people with no economic and social capital who are in that position because they expend no energy at all.

However, it is necessary to consider energy as an additional criterion in building the capacity for safety, power, and mobility in society.

This is also tied up with privilege. People in positions of privilege (i.e. men, white people, Christians, heterosexual and cisgender people, temporarily able-bodied people, etc.) need not expend the energy to consider stereotypes and prejudices on a day-to-day basis; they can focus all of their energy on their mobility, which already comes easier.

Extra energy is extra capital. Know where you're privileged.