3.4

Postindustrial Societies

  • 1970s

  • where still postindustrial today

  • A service sector so large that most people worked in it.

    • the organization provided service rather than products

    • some many people providing services and not producing products

  • A vast surplus of goods

    • there is an abundance of goods

  • Even More extensive trading with other nations

    • we produce things that other countries can not or do not produce and visa versa

    • made more cheaply somewhere else and trading for those goods

  • A wider variety and quantity of goods

  • An information explosion

    • having everything we need to know in the palm of your hand

    • use to have to go to library but now googling something

  • A global village

    • our connection with everyone

    • being able to watch events in China or anywhere else

    • being able to travel to different countries

  • Biotech society

    • merge between biology and economics

    • advances in biology

    • playing with human genetics, cloning

    • with a biotech society, we can still exchange goods

    • more importantly, the next technological advancements haven’t even been thought of yet but give it a year and things will change

    • these advancements will cause us to live longer lives than ever before

    • living longer with create a greater inequality, between the young and the old, other countries, third-world nations

Capitalism

  • Three essential features

    • Private ownership of the means of production

      • includes owning the land and machines and the factories

    • Market completion

      • we are competing with one another

      • owners decide what to produce and what the prices will be

    • The pursuit of profit

      • trying to sell things at a cost that is higher than what it takes to make something

  • Laissez-faire capitalism

    • means hands off capitalism

    • government doesn’t get involved in the market

  • Welfare or state capitalism

    • state ownership, private individuals own the means of production but they have to follow the government rules

    • this is what we have in the US

    • govern how these operations can operate

    • deals with market forces

Socialism

  • Three essential components

    • Public ownership of the means of production

      • the government owns the means of production; they own the production, the land, etc.

    • Central planning

      • a committee that decides the prices of the products and what products will be made

      • decides what is going to be made regardless of supply and demand

    • The distribution of goods without profit motive

      • designed to eliminate competition

      • predetermined prices or demand or how much it costs to make the item

      • goal is to produce items for the general welfare of the people

      • they might not get everything but they will get the things they need

      • everyone works for the government

      • doesn’t exist in pure form

      • wages being a little different based on position; supervisor getting paid more than workers

      • some people require/deserve more

  • Comparison

  • Capitalism:

    • Market forces both supply and demand determine the products and the cost

    • if there is a great demand you increase the price of products

    • profit is a good thing

    • if your not making profit your not going to make it

    • employees get paid more, so they create more goods

    • people will want to work harder

    • society benefits from more supply of good

  • Socialism:

    • doesn’t agree at all

    • looks at a profit as immoral

    • the price of the product is based on the work that goes into it

    • you can only make a profit is by paying workers less than the value of their labor

      • bringing down the income and this exploits the worker

  • Criticisms of Capitalism and Socialism

    • Capitalism-

      • leads to social inequality

      • have a small sector of people who are wealthy

      • these people exploit the people below them

      • the top layer has the political power

      • they are making and keeping more money

      • they can get legislative pass

      • and keep people down in the bottom layer

    • Socialism:

      • doesn’t respect individual rights

      • tries to control peoples lives

      • decides were people work, live, go to schools

      • gives people a chance to be poor

Convergence Theory

  • Capitalism and socialism are growing similar

  • giving us a hybrid of the two

  • Russia which was communism but has gone away from it. Russia has made private ownership of property legal. Making a profit is encouraged. China is the same way. China still has a communist form of government with a little capitalism thrown in there.

  • The US has adopted socialist ways of doing things

    • capitalism with socialism mixed in

    • the government taking money from some people to give benefit to others

    • unemployment compensation

    • subsidized housing; given to the poor or the elderly without a profit motive

    • welfare, taxes

    • minimum wage

    • social security