sociology exam 3 (chapter 11)
An association of workers who organize to improve their economic status and working conditions is called
a union.
What is a sweatshop?
a workplace with poor working conditions, below-standard wages, and long hours
In a capitalist system, what do workers have available to sell?
their own labor
How could the Information Revolution affect urbanization?
Cities might shrink because people can live anywhere and still work at the same job.
What is one of the key differences between hunting and gathering societies and horticultural societies?
Horticultural societies tended to have more permanent settlements.
Which revolution shifted work away from the home and led to the large-scale movement of people from rural areas into cities?
Industrial Revolution
Early in his career, Roland read about the development of the microchip used in computers. A few years later, he was one of the first people to purchase a computer to assist in managing his business accounts. Roland participated in the start of which revolution?
Information
How has the Information Revolution changed the nature of work and the economy?
It has shifted the economy toward the production of knowledge and services.
How did the Industrial Revolution create "work" in the modern sense?
It used machines to produce more goods, more efficiently.
Lara works as a massage therapist. Why would Lara be considered one type of service worker?
Lara provides direct service to clients.
How has union membership changed in recent years?
Membership has steeply declined.
While there have always been "gig" workers, what has recently changed about this kind of labor?
Technology facilitates connections between workers and clients and modulates pricing.
How could telecommuting increase worker productivity?
Telecommuters must usually provide a concrete measure of their accomplishments, not just show up.
Which change was associated with the Industrial Revolution?
a significant population boom
In 2005, teaching assistants at the University of Oregon went on strike. Which aspect of their job made it easier for them to strike than most American workers?
Their jobs cannot be moved overseas.
How are strikes different from acts of resistance like daydreaming on the job?
They are collective.
Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days of the year for many soup kitchens and other groups that provide food to the homeless and the poor. It is also one of the biggest days of the year for volunteers, as many more people decide to donate their time and efforts, making them, even if just for the day, part of the
Third Sector.
Why did so many people feel dissatisfied working on assembly lines?
Workers never had the satisfaction of seeing the finished product.
Workers in large department stores usually are paid on commission, which means they are in direct competition with their fellow employees. According to Karl Marx, the workers may experience
alienation.
Which type of economic system is the United States?
capitalist with socialist aspects
What kind of resistance strategy is a union?
collective
According to the text, what is the MOST extreme form of socialism called?
communism
The fact that almost all of the small electronics used in the United States are made in Asia is an illustration of
globalization.
Lilyanna recently took over as CEO of a large cosmetics company. She thinks it's important to engage in corporate social responsibility, so she
implements a plan to reduce the firm's environmental impact and ceases testing products on animals
The Agricultural Revolution had many benefits, such as allowing for greater food production and for groups to better sustain themselves and develop more permanent settlements. However, it also had some downsides, such as
increasing the necessary amount of daily labor
Fran is a call center customer-service worker who has a script she's supposed to strictly follow when she responds to customer complaints. One day, a customer is extremely rude to her and Fran departs from the script and asks her to be more polite and respectful. What kind of strategy is this is an example of?
individual resistance
What is it an example of when office workers hang pictures in their cubicles or waste time daydreaming while on the clock?
individual resistance
Someone who works primarily with information and develops or uses knowledge in the workplace is called a(n) ________ worker.
knowledge
Jared runs a company in Oakland, California, that produces mobile games for Android and Apple phones. He has found that he can increase company profits by contracting freelance coders and developers in India rather than in the United States to do most of the work. This is an example of
outsourcing
In Great Britain, the government owns the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, which is the world's largest television and radio broadcasting service. This tells you that Great Britain is
partially socialist.
According to Karl Marx, where does surplus value come from?
paying workers less than the value of what they create
Which of the following social problems might be alleviated if more Americans were encouraged to telecommute?
pollution
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." This slogan could only be fully realized with
pure communism.
Tactics that are used by workers to take back some degree of control over the conditions in which they work are called
resistance strategies.
Publicly owned and operated schools, federally mandated health care coverage, and tax incentives for business are all examples of what?
socialist elements in the U.S. economy
When he worked in the office alongside his co-workers and supervisor, Nikola just had to show up for eight hours and everyone thought he was productive. However, now that he works remotely, he feels he has to prove he's been working by getting projects done and sending them to his boss, and he has actually become more productive as a result. Nikola's experience is an example of one of the benefits of
telecommuting
What term is used for the group of nonprofit organizations that are designed to run as cost-effectively as possible and to direct any earnings back into the causes they support?
the Third Sector
Cuba's communist government has recently introduced reforms that make it easier to attract tourists. Consequently, many skilled professionals have started working in the tourism industry to earn more money regardless of their degrees. Of what is this a sign?
the increasingly important role capitalism plays in Cuba
Which area of the economy has seen increases in union membership since the early 1970s?
the public sector
What is it called when nations compete to attract transnational corporations by undercutting their citizens' wages or offering tax incentives?
the race to the bottom
What new technology helped to bring about the Industrial Revolution?
the steam engine
What change caused people to migrate to cities from rural areas?
the switch to a manufacturing economy
Corporations such as Coca-Cola and General Electric, which are embedded in countries throughout the world and have a significant impact on the global economy, are referred to as
transnational corporations
Who led campaigns to end child labor and increase workplace safety?
unions