Chapter 11 Sociology

sweatshop

a workplace where workers are subject to below-standard wages, long hours, and poor working conditions

Transnational corporations

are another part of the global economy that transcend national borders so that their products can be manufactured, distributed, marketed, and sold from bases all over the world.

Outsourcing

"contracting out" or transferring to another country the labor that a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform

Socialism

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

Capitalism

An economic system based on the laws of free market competition privatization of the means of production production for a profit with an emphasis on supply and demand as a means to set price. Also, encourages efficiency - New technology -expansion of markets - cost cutting

Communism (most extreme form of socialism)

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

Karl Marx

Karl Marx argued that when people lose control over their production and the conditions of production, they become alienated and view work as a means to survive rather than a rewarding activity.

4 ways workers are alienated *important*

Marx believed workers were alienated in four ways: from the product of their labor from their own productive activity from their fellow workers from human nature

Nature of Post Industrial work

Service Workers Direct contact with clients, customers, patients, or students by those rendering the service Often, the worker's concerns, standards, and expectations conflict with those of the client Information Workers Involve the production, analysis, and distribution of information or knowledge Working more hours than pre-Information times in order to increase productivity and save time for the masses. Diminished importance of "place."

Socialism (continued)

The government (not the individual) owns or regulates the ownership of all Businesses Farms Factories and profits are redistributed to the collective citizenry. The government regulates all aspects of the economy - Ownership of resources and means of production Regulation of lending policies, interest rates, and currency values Sets labor policies re: parental leave, retirement, and right to strike

Globalization

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