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 of 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 distinction

Agriculture Revolution

The social and economic change, including population increase, that followed from the domestication of plants and animals and the gradually increasing efficiency of food production

Industrial Revolution

The rapid transformation of social life resulting from the technological and economic development that began with the assembly line, stream power, and urbanization

Alienation

The feeling of disconnect people experience when they loose control over their work, products, or social relationships, often caused by industrial or capitalist system

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

Service work

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

Knowledge Work

Work that primarily deal with information; producing value in the economy though ideas, judgements, analyses, designs, or innovations

Telecommuting

Working from home while staying connected to the office through communication technology

Resistance Strategies

Ways that workers express disconnect with their jobs and try to reclaim control of the conditions of their labor

Union

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

Globalization

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

Sweatshop

A workplace in which workers are subject to extreme exploration, 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 then labor that a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform; typically done for financial reasons

Contingent and Alternative Workforce

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

Independent (or 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