No Competition!

1. Set Focus
Pose this essential question to guide discussion: What effects can a monopoly have on a consumer?

2. List Vocabulary
Share with students some of the challenging vocabulary words in this article. Encourage them to use context to infer meanings as they read.

• exorbitant (p. 9)
• antitrust (p. 9)
• stifle (p. 10)
• leverage (p. 11)
• referendum (p. 11)
• efficacy (p. 11)

3. Engage
Have pairs of students come up with a list of three or four of the biggest companies in America. Have them select a company and think more about why this particular company has come to dominate their industry.

4. Read 
Have students read the article, marking the text to note key ideas or questions.

5. Discuss
Distribute or project Up Close: No Competition, a close-reading activity for students to work on in small groups. (Note: The questions on the PDF also appear on the following page of this lesson, with possible responses.) Follow up with a class discussion. If you’re short on time, have each group tackle one or two of the questions. Collect students’ work or have each group report its findings to the class.

• What is the purpose of the article? What central ideas are introduced in the first section? (Author’s purpose, central ideas) (The author’s main purpose is to explain why some businesses are being accused of monopolistic practices and  why these practices may be causing problems for consumers, and to discuss differing viewpoints on the issue. Through its description of one person’s struggles with Ticketmaster, the article introduces the idea that consumers are dealing with bad customer service and high prices, and that some people attribute the problems to Ticketmaster’s size and business practices.)

• In your own words, explain what a monopoly is, what monopolistic practices are, and why these practices are illegal. (Paraphrase information) (Students’ answers will vary, but they should mention that monopolies are businesses that dominate all or most of their market, and that monopolistic practices are unethical or unfair activities that a business might engage in to stifle competition and to achieve, maintain, or benefit unfairly from their control of the market. These practices are illegal because they allow companies to artificially control the market, often at the expense of the consumer.)

• What was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890? Why did the author include this information in the article? (Analyze information, author’s purpose) (The Sherman Antitrust Act made monopolistic practices illegal and allowed the government to punish or dissolve companies who were engaging in these practices. The author included this information to show how the current debate is informed by history, to explain how the issue has been dealt with in the past, and to illustrate what might happen again.)

• In the section “What’s a Monopoly?,” Rebecca Allensworth argues that renewed government intervention is needed because, without it, big companies have engaged in practices that harm consumers. How does Joe Berchtold’s testimony to Congress suggest a counterpoint to her argument? (Integrate information, compare & contrast)(Live Nation executive Joe Berchtold testified that the issues plaguing customers were not caused by Live Nation’s market dominance, but by scalper bots. He also testified that Ticketmaster continues to have competition in the market despite its size. His testimony offers a counterpoint to Allensworth because he suggests that market dominance does not necessarily mean companies will engage, or have engaged, in harmful behavior, and that the problems Ticketmaster customers encounter may be a result of other factors.) 

• At the end of the article, it says, “if the tech companies win, the [lawsuits] could act as a referendum on increasingly aggressive government regulators and raise questions about the efficacy of century-old antitrust law.” What does that mean? Explain. (Analyze language) (This means that if tech companies win, it might mean that government regulators are being too aggressive and using laws that were written to regulate companies that existed when the market and the nation were very different than they are today. The laws may no longer be useful or effective.) 

• Based on the article and your own experience, whose argument about Live Nation is more persuasive, Rebecca Allensworth’s or Joe Berchtold’s? Explain. (Evaluate arguments) (Students’ responses will vary, but they should support their ideas with text details and reasoning.)

6. Writing Prompt
Based on the article and your own knowledge, do you think it’s likely that new companies can still compete with Amazon, Google, or Meta? Write a brief argument essay explaining why or why not.

7. Videos
Watch the videos. What do they add to your understanding?

8. Classroom Debate
Are companies that dominate their market bad for consumers?

9. Quiz & Skills
Use the quiz to assess comprehension and the Analyze the Cartoon and Be the Editor skill sheets to practice visual analysis and review grammar skills.