Vocab

labor union

Organization of workers who bargain for better pay and work conditions.

Standard of living

The level of material goods and services available to the people in society.

Social mobility

The ability of individuals or groups to move up the social scale.

Free Market

Unregulated exchange of goods and services.

unitarianism

Ideas that the goal of society should be to bring about the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

Socialism

System in which the people as a whole, rather than private individuals, own all property and operate all business.

means of production

Farms, factories, railways, and other large businesses that produce and distribute goods.

proletariat

Working class.

Communism

Form of Socialism advocated by Karl Marx; according to Marx, class struggle would lead to the creation of a classless society in which all wealth and property would be owned collectively.

Social democracy

Political ideology in which there is a gradual transition from capitalism into socialism instead of a sudden, violent overthrow of the system.