Review of Socialism, Capitalism, and Ethics

Flashcards on Socialism, Capitalism and Ethics

What percentage did the American middle class decline by from 1971 to 2011?

10%

Which one of the top five happiest countries, according to a 2019 United Nations global study, is NOT included?

United States

Which country is pursuing the world's most aggressive privatization program?

Greece

According to Jeremy Rifkin, what is a characteristic of the European Dream?

Sustainable development

Which country followed the 'Third Way' and navigated a path between capitalism and communism?

Norway

Is it true or false that Swedish schools strive to promote gender stereotypes?

False

What is another name for Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland's form of market socialism?

A 'Third Way'

Which country takes a higher percentage of its gross domestic product in taxes: The United States or Sweden?

Sweden

What observation did Robert Putnam make about social capital from roughly 1975 to 2000?

Virtually every measure of social interaction fell significantly

What is a distinction socialists consider anathema?

Class distinction

According to capitalists, what suffers under socialism?

Individual freedom

What do today's democratic socialists tend to accept?

Private property and market-based economic practices while calling for government intervention to correct the market’s failure

Which economic philosophies does the term collectivism embrace?

Communism and socialism

Is extravagant wealth side-by-side with punishing poverty a disappointment in capitalism?

True

Does increasing government revenue problems suggest that infrastructure privatization will continue in the US?

True

According to Jeremy Rifkin, does the American Dream focuses on sustainable development, while the European Dream focuses on growth?

False

Is it true or false that The Nordic states practiced communism with such success it was labeled a 'Third way'?

False

Do Socialists consider class distinctions a relic of the past and seek to diminish any class differences?

True

Does Socialism embrace totalitarianism while calling for aggressive government intervention to correct economic and social ills?

False

Does Sweden practice communism?

False

Does the term collectivism embraces communism, socialism and associated philosophies on the left side of the political/economic spectrum

True

Is the proper balance between open markets and government intervention one of the foremost public policy debates in American life?

True

What is a true statement about China's current economic situation?

There is a rising labor costs

What book did Robert Putnam label the community and commitment bonds that seem to emerge in a culture where people regularly interact with one another as 'social capital'?

Bowling Alone

According to Ayn Rand, maximizing one's own interests through reliance on reason and rejection of sacrifice, is the only path to a just, meaningful life. What is this called?

Rational selfishness

What does the 'Third Way' include in the context of economic systems?

Collective welfare

What is another name for Sweden’s form of market socialism?

Social democracy

The proper balance between what remains the central public policy debate in American life?

Open markets and government intervention

According to 'The Economist Magazine', what is not one of Marx’s criticisms of capitalism?

Capitalism provides laborers with job security

What do Socialists believe about the economy?

It must be guided by the government toward the general interest

Socialists feel a society based competition and unrestrained pursuit of industrial growth is what?

Irrational

What is not embraced by modern social democrats?

Totalitarianism

What is China’s economic labeled as sometimes?

State capitalism

Ayn Rand’s philosophy of objectivism contends that only what principles can produce a rational, moral life?

Free markets

Is it true that Greece is pursuing the world’s most aggressive privatization program?

True

Has Germany been able to balance a generous social safety net with a very robust and highly skilled manufacturing sector?

False

Are Socialists convinced that problems of market failure mean that the free market is simply incapable of meeting the needs of all segments of society?

True

Do Socialists fear the “irrationality” of a society based on competition and unrestrained pursuit of industrial growth?

True

Did Karl Marx feel that the pursuit of wealth and self-interest would lead to economic justice?

False

Does Capitalism features economic cooperation and varying degrees of centralized controls?

False

According to Ayn Rand, does big government suppresses individual rights and personal freedom and improperly transfers wealth from the highly productive to those who are less so?

True

Under the Foreign Corruption Practices Act, is a payment legal if it’s money paid merely to expedite or secure performance of a routine government action?

The payment is legal since it’s money paid merely to expedite or secure performance of a routine government action

Is it true most big companies have voluntarily developed ethic codes in the work place?

True

Of the six universal stages of moral development identified by Kohlberg, which traits is a manager most likely to display at ‘stage 3’?

Adhere to stereotypical images

Which of the following is an integral part of ‘stage 4’ of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

Doing right is one’s duty

According to Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, which of the following universal stages is grouped under the conventional level?

Conform to meet the expectations of others, please others, and adhere to stereotypical images

Jenny’s approach is consistent with what if she believes it would be better if all company employees took a 10% pay cut instead of laying off 10% of the workforce

Rule-utilitarianism

What did German philosopher Immanuel Kant propose?

Categorical imperative

A father may be morally committed to saving his son from a burning building rather than saving another person who might do more total good for society. This action of the father would be primarily dictated by which ethical system?

Deontological

What is deontology derived from?

Duty

Which ethical system emphasizes a duty directed toward what ought to be right?

Deontological

According to sociologists David Callahan, America is a nation increasingly falling into what two group?

Winning; anxious

What was enacted in response to the corporate scandals in the early 2000s?

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Does The federal False Claims Act offer incentives to whistleblowers?

True

Does The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) requires rigorous internal accounting controls and careful recordkeeping?

True

Does Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act specially requires publicly traded companies to adopt a code of ethics for senior financial officers?

True

Have Most big companies have voluntarily developed ethics codes?

True

Does A stronger sense of moral identity occurs if that identity is centered nore on moral value than on a moral virtues such as creativity?

True

Does the emotion or intuition approach claims our brains are biologically endowed with a moral faculty

True

According to act-utilitarianism, the goal is to follow those rules that generate the greatest value for society?

False

Is a moral rule ‘categorical’ rather than ‘hypothetical’ in that its prescriptive force is independent of the consequences of the rule.

True

In the context of libertarianism, are justice and fairness, right and wrong are measured not by equality of results but from ensuring that everyone has an equal opportunity to engage in informed choices about their own welfare?

True

Which of the following is false regarding the Foreign Corrupt Practice Act?

It requires all publicly traded companies to develop ethics codes for senior management.

What is Section 406 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act designed to promote?

Honest conduct

According to Both Kohlberg and Gilligan, moral decision making is the controlled product of what?

Analysis, deliberation, and experience

What is an integral part of ‘stage 5” of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

Current laws and values are relative

What is an integral part of ‘stage 2’ of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development?

Follow rules only if it is in one’s own interest, but let others do the same

Which psychologist set forth a comprehensive theory of moral development claiming that moral judgment evolves and improves primarily as a function of age and education?

Lawrence Kohlberg

Which of the following philosophers was a chief intellectual force in the development of utilitarianism?

John Stuart Mill

What determines the proper course of action of which ethical theory?

Utilitarianism

Consequentialist ethical systems are synonymous with what ethical systems?

Teleological

Teleological ethical systems believe that which of the following?

There are universal truths to distinguish right from wrong

Which philosophy believes standards of conduct cannot be objectively discovered or rationally justified via ethical theory and reasoning?

Existentialism

What were subprime mortgages being aggressively issued to feed the voracious appetite of the investment banking industry leading up to the Great Recession?

Derivatives

Does the False Claims Act raise penalties for whistleblowers to as much as 25 years of imprisonment?

False

Are bribes always considered an unlawful way of doing business, regardless of where the bribe occurs?

False

Did Companies that established and enforced high-quality codes of conduct rank highly in corporate citizenship, sustainability, ethical behavior, and public perception of the firm?

True

Did Lawrence Kohlberg claim that moral judgement, at least as applied to judgements of justice, is irreversibly established at a young age?

False

Is it dangerous that the ethic of care might be interpreted to restore and legitimize the stereotype of women as care-giving subordinates not deserving of moral autonomy?

True

Does Formalism requires us to follow our own categorical imperative?

True

Maximizing right rather than good is the teleological standard. True or false?

False

Did Immanuel Kant believe that every rational creature can act according to his or her categorical imperative because all such persons have ‘autonomous, self-legislating wills?

True

Does Virtue ethics applauds the person who is motivated to do the right thing and who cultivates that motivation in daily conduct?

True

Which of the following is the first global standard which measures a company’s social and environmental record?

The Social Accountability 8000

Under the stakeholder model of social responsibility, what does the corporation do?

Identifies all of the groups that may significantly affect the firm’s performance or be affected by it

According to a 2016 study of supply chain sustainability plans in 50 large American firms, what was discovered?

Few companies seem to be embracing sustainability initiatives in a meaningful way.

What is a true statement regarding the triple bottom line approach?

It contends that profit and social/environmental responsibility are of equal importance.

With regard to professor Archie Caroll’s social responsibility pyramid, which responsibilities involve doing what is right, just, and fair?

Ethical

Which responsibilities fall under the ‘desired’ category of professor Archie Caroll’s social responsibility pyramid?

Discretionary/philanthropic

Corporation citizenship is also referred to as which of the following?

Corporate social responsibility

According to Professor Mara Einstein, churches are doing what?

Changing their methods and messages to suit their “market”

Which of the following is not a traditional humanist value?

Competition

What did Charles Reich address in The Greening of America?

Self

Which court decision held that federal laws limiting corporate campaign contributions violated corporate free speech?

Citizens United

To stakeholder advocates, would simply maximizing profits to satisfy shareholders satisfy the corporation’s social duties?

False

Does Social Accountability Accreditation Services accredits companies that meet the Social Accountability 8000 standards in the area of discrimination?

True

DoesThe triple bottom line calls for attention to the three Ps: people, planet, and profit?

True

According to Milton Friedman, is the firm that maximizes its profits necessarily maximizing its contribution to society?

True

According to professor Mara Einstein, is religion the rare exception to institutions becoming a product?

False

Are Real wages of the blue-collar workers almost unchanged over the past 35 years?

True