Sociology chap 15. economy

Production

The transformation of valued recources (time and effort) into goods and services

Commodities

Goods and services produced for sale on the market

Agricultural revolution

Cultural and technological changes facilitating food production via animal and plant domestication

• around the end of Ice age

Industrialization

The process of economic and social changes transforming an agricultural society into an industrial society

Industrial society

One where power-driven machines have replaced manual power and reliance on animals for power

• Mass production + sustain large population

Division of labor

The organization of work into specialized tasks performed by diff groups

First Industrial Revolution

• Introduction of machinery, steam power, and mass production

• Great Britain

• Primary by the invention of steam engines (allowed for machine manufacturing) → textiles

• Steam-powered ships and trains (trade+travel)

• Concentration of factories → growth of cities (urbanization)

Subsistence agriculture

Where farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet their families’ needs (before industrialization)

Second Industrial Revolution

Rapid technological advancement and industrial growth until the beginning of ww1

• New industries in steel, chemicals, and machines

• Gasoline/Oil engines replaced steam engines

• Electricity

• USA took the lead in manufacturing also due to immigrants (railroad)

Taylorism

A management approach aimed at improving worker productivity by decreasing worker initiative in production (dividing parts)

De-skilling

Process of reducing skills needed to produce a product/ loss of skills due to not exercising them

• Allow them to lower wages

• Give them more control

Third Industrial Revolution

Parid shift from manufacturing material goods to producing the knowledge and services

Sectors

1. Primary sector: extracting raw materials from the earth

2. Secondary: Manufacturing, processing, and constructio of finished goods from raw materials

3. Tertiary sector: Providing services (retail, education, health care)

Precarious work

Uncertain, unstable, and insecure (workers bear the risks and have limited benefits and entitlements)

• Full-time workers r being replaced with part-time

Gig economy

Short-term engagements between employers, workers, and customers mediated by online platforms (uber, door dash)

• Lowering laor costs

• U.. labor laws do not extend to most platform workers

• Normalize precarious work

Oligopoly & Monopoly

Oligopoly: small number of firms dominate an industry

Monopoly: One firm dominates a given industry

Fourth Industrial Revolution

Rapid technological advancements (physical, digital, artificial intelligence)

Economic systems

Capitalism: means of production are privately owned (free of government interference)

Socialism: means of poduction are collectively owned

Informal economy

Economic activity outside of visible and legally recognized production, distribution and consumption ( fueled by socialist bc government contorl businesses)

Social democracy

Society whose economy is predominantly capitalist but with government control over essential services (education and health care)

Political economy

The overlap and interrelationship between politics and the economy

Public policy

State actions and inactions institutionalized in laws, regulations and guidelines

Fiscal policy

Taxation, spending, and regulation

(How governments influence the economy and the extent of inequality)

Public goods

Goods/services availableto every member of society

Progressive, Regressive, Proportional taxes

• Progressive tax: Take larger percentage of income rom high-income earners

• Regressive tax: Take larger percentage of income from low-income earners

• Proportional tax: Tax remains constant regardless of taxable amount (however it might have regressive effect)

Welfare state

(US government spends most of its budget)

• System of welfare provision to meet the economic and social needs (Medicaid and Medicare)

Means-tested programs

A gov assistance program where eligibility depends on whether people income fall below a set limit (below = qualified)

Gini Coefficient

A coefficient that varies between 0 and 1

• 0 = perfect equality

• 1 = perfect inequality

Emotional labor

Process by which workers are expected to manage their feelings and expressions according to employer rules

Feeling and display rules

Feeling: guidelines on what to feel

Display guidelines on what to express

Surface & Deep acting

Surface: Display emotions required without changing their real emotions

Deep: Try to truly feel the emotions others expect them to display

Occupational segregation

A group is overrepresented in an occupation/certain roles

Emotion work

How pple manage their feelings and expressions to generate a specific state of mind in others - maintain personal relationships

• caring, showing affection, planning for other members

• Household duties

Consumption

Process of acquiring, using, diposing of goods and services

Labor theory of value (Marx)

Productive work (labor) gives commodities their value (not consumer demand)

• Capitalists exploit workers by not rewarding them for their labor

Consumer societies

A society organized around consumption → production

Values

Sign value - The value accorded to an object because of the prestige it imparts upon its owner

Use value - practical utility of an object

Exchange value - the worth of one commodity in exchange for another (ex. market value of a lamborghini)

Relative deprivation

Perception that one possesses less of a desired resource than those whom one compares to

Positional goods

Goods that have value to oneself as long as not too many others have them