chapter 13

Question 1

collective bargaining

Answer 1

the rights of employees and workers to negotiate with their employers for basic rights and benefits

Question 2

government

Answer 2

the enacting of policies and decisions on the part of officials within a political apparatus. while in the past, virtually all governments were headed by monarchs or emperors, in modern societies most are headed by officials who do not inherit their positions of power but are elected or appointed on the basis of qualification

Question 3

politics

Answer 3

the means by which power is employed to influence the nature and content of government activities. the sphere of the political includes the activities of those in govt., but also the actions of others. there are many ways in which people outside the government apparatus seek to influence it

Question 4

economy

Answer 4

the system of production and exchange that provides for the material needs of individuals living in a given society. what goes on in the economy usually influences other areas in social life. Modern economies differ substantially from traditional ones because the majority of the population is no longer engaged in agricultural production

Question 5

power

Answer 5

the ability of an individual or members of a group to achieve aims or further interests they hold. a pervasive element in all human relationships

Question 6

authority

Answer 6

a government’s legitimate use of power

Question 7

state

Answer 7

a poltitcal apparatus ruling over a given territorial order whose authority is backed by laws and the ability to use force. the emergence of state marked a distinctive transition in human history because the centralization of power involved in state formation introduced new dynamics into processes of social change

Question 8

nation state

Answer 8

a particular type of state characteristic of the modern world in which government has sovereign power within a defined territorial area, and the population are citizens who know themselves to be a part of an emerging nation state. originated in Europe

Question 9

sovereignty

Answer 9

the undisputed political rule of a state over a given territorial area

Question 10

citizen

Answer 10

a member of a political community having both rights and duties associated with that membership

Question 11

nationalsim

Answer 11

a set of beliefs ands symbols expressing identification with a national community

Question 12

local nationalism

Answer 12

the beliefs that communities share a cultural identity should have political autonomy, even within smaller units of a nation state

Question 13

civil rights

Answer 13

legal rights held by all citizens in a given national community

Question 14

political rights

Answer 14

rights of political participation, such as the right to vote in local and national elections, held by citizens of a national community

Question 15

social rights

Answer 15

rights of social and welfare provisions held by all citizens in a national community including the right to claim unemployment, and sickness payments provided by the state

Question 16

welfare state

Answer 16

a political system that provides a wide range of welfare benefits for its citizens

Question 17

democracy

Answer 17

a political system that allows citizens to participate in political decision making or to elect representative government bodies

Question 18

participatory democracy

Answer 18

a system of democracy in which all members of a group or community participate collectively in making major decisions

Question 19

direct democracy

Answer 19

a form of participatory democracy that allows citizens to vote directly on laws and policies

Question 20

constitutional monarchs

Answer 20

kings or queens who are largely figureheads. real power rests in the hands of other political leaders

Question 21

liberal democracies

Answer 21

systems of democracy based on parliamentary institutions, coupled to the free market system in the area of economic production

Question 22

communism

Answer 22

a set of political beliefs associated with marx, as developed by a particularly by Lenin and institutionalized in the soviet union, eastern europe and some 3rd world countries

Question 23

interest group

Answer 23

a group organized to pursue specific interests in the political arena, operating primarily by lobbying the members of legislative bodies

Question 24

democratic elitism

Answer 24

a theory of the limits of democracy which holds that in large scale societies democratic participation is necessarily limited to the regular election of political leaders

Question 25

pluralist theory of modern democracy

Answer 25

theories that emphasize the role of diverse and potentially competing interest groups, none of which dominate the political process

Question 26

power elite

Answer 26

small networks of individuals who hold concentrated power in modern society

Question 27

terrorism

Answer 27

use of attacks on civilians designed to persuade a government to alter its policies, or to damage its standing in the world

Question 28

old-style terrorism

Answer 28

a type of terrorism that is local and linked to particular states and has limited objectives, which means that the violence involved is fairly limited

Question 29

new-style terrorism

Answer 29

a recent form of terrorism characterized by global ambitions, loose global organizational ties and a more ruthless attitude toward the violence the terrorists are willing to use

Question 30

work

Answer 30

the activity by which people produce from the natural world and so insure their survival

Question 31

occupation

Answer 31

any form of paid employment in which an individual regularly works

Question 32

technology

Answer 32

the application of knowledge of the material world to production; the creation of material instruments using human interactions with nature

Question 33

informal economy

Answer 33

economic transactions carried on outside the sphere of orthodox paid employment

Question 34

division of labor

Answer 34

the specialization of work tasks, by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. all societies have at least some rudimentary division of labor, especially between tasks performed by men and women

Question 35

economic interdependence

Answer 35

the fact that in the division of labor, individuals depend on others to produce many or most of the goods they need to sustain their lives

Question 36

alienation

Answer 36

the sense that our own abilities as human beings are taken over by other entities

Question 37

strike

Answer 37

a temporary stoppage of work by a group of employees in order to express a grievance or enforce a demand

Question 38

capitalism

Answer 38

an economic system based on the private ownership of wealth, which is invested and reinvested to produce a profit

Question 39

entrepreneur

Answer 39

the owner or founder of a business firm

Question 40

monopoly

Answer 40

a situation in which a single firm dominates in a given industry

Question 41

oligopoly

Answer 41

the domination of a small number of firms in a given industry

Question 42

family capitalism

Answer 42

capitalistic enterprises owned and administered by entrepreneurial families

Question 43

managerial capitalism

Answer 43

capitalistic enterprises administered by managerial executives rather than by owners

Question 44

welfare capitalism

Answer 44

practice in which large corporations protect their employees from the vicissitudes of the market

Question 45

institutional capitalism

Answer 45

capitalistic enterprises organized on the basis of institutional shareholding

Question 46

transnational corporations

Answer 46

business corporations located in 2 or more countries

Question 47

automation

Answer 47

production processes monitored and controlled by machines with only minimal supervision from people

Question 48

knowledge economy

Answer 48

a society no longer based primarily on the production of material goods, but based instead on the production of knowledge