Chapter 11: The Economy and Work 🍯

Capitalism

an economic system based on the laws of free market competition, privatization of the means of production, and production for profit

Socialism

an economic system based on the collective ownership of the means of production, collective distribution of goods and services, and government regulation

Communism

a system of government that eliminates private property; it is the most extreme form of socialism, because all citizens work for the government and there are no class distinctions

The Agricultural Revolution

the social and economic changes, including population increases, that followed from the domestication of plants and animals and the gradually increasing efficiency of food produ

Industrial Revolution

the rapid transformation of social life resulting from the technological and economic developments that began with the assembly line, steam power, and urbanization

Information Revolution

the recent social revolution made possible by the development of the general-purpose microchip in the 1970s, which brought about vast improvements in the ability to manage information

Resistance strategies

tactics that let workers take back a degree of control over the conditions of their labor and feel that they have some sense of autonomy even in the face of dehumanizing, alienating constraints imposed by the terms and demands of their employment.

The Great Resignation

millions of Americans left their jobs in 2021, due to some employers intolerable demands

Union

an association of workers who bargain collectively for wages and benefits and better working conditions

craft unions

all the members are skilled in a certain craft

Industrial unions

all the members work in the same industry regardless of their particular skill

Globalization

The cultural and economic change resulting from dramatically increased international trade and exchange in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries

Sweatshops

a workplace in which workers are subject to extreme exploitation, including below-standard wages, long hours, and poor working conditions that may pose health or safety hazards

Outsourcing

“Contracting out” or transferring to another country the labor that a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform; typically done for financial reasons. (A company hires another company (often in another country) to do work instead of using its own employees)

contingent and alternative workforce

those who work in positions that are temporary or freelance or who work as independent contractors

Independent (third) sector

the part of the economy composed of nonprofit organizations; their workers are mission driven, rather than profit driven, and such organizations direct surplus funds to the causes they support

Knowledge work

Work that primarily deals with information; producing value in the economy through ideas, judgments, analyses, designs, or innovations

Service work

Work that involves providing a service to businesses or individual clients, customers, or consumers rather than manufacturing goods

Public Goods

social security, public education, federal subsides for healthcare, federally funding for research that promotes the common good

Corporate Welfare

companies can benefit from government subsides grants, tax intentives , and special contract s