Sociology Chapter 12

resistance strategies

Ways that workers express discontent with their working conditions and try to reclaim control of the conditions of their labor.

communism

A system of government that eliminates private property; the most extreme form of socialism, because all citizens work for the government and there are no class distinctions.

sweatshop

A workplace where workers are subject to extreme exploitation, 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 the labor that a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform; typically done for financial reasons.

union

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

socialism

An economic system based on the collective ownership of the means of production, collective distribution of goods and services, and government regulation of the economy.

capitalism

An economic system based on the laws of free market competition, privatization of the means of production, and production for profit, with an emphasis on competition and supply and demand as a means to set prices.

globalization

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

Independent 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. Also called the Third Sector.

Industrial Revolution

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

Information Revolution

The recent social revolution made possible by the development of the microchip in the 1970s, which brought about vast improvements in the ability to manage information.

Agricultural Revolution

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

knowledge workers

Those who work primarily with information and who create value in the economy through ideas, judgments, analyses, designs, or innovations.

service workers

Those whose work involves providing a service to businesses or individual clients, customers, or consumers rather than manufacturing goods.

telecommuting

Working from home while staying connected to the office through communications technology.