chapter 14

Question 1

work

Answer 1

the activity by which people produce from the natural world and so ensure their survival. work should not be thought of exclusively as paid employment. In traditional cultures, there was only a rudimentary monetary system, and few people worked for money. in modern societies, there remain types of work that do not involve direct payment

Question 2

occupation

Answer 2

any form of paid employment in which an individual regularly works

Question 3

economy

Answer 3

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

Question 4

capitalism

Answer 4

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

Question 5

technology

Answer 5

the application of scientific knowledge of the material world to production, involving the creation of material instruments (such as machines) used in human interaction with nature

Question 6

housework

Answer 6

unpaid work carried out in the home, usually by women. domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning, and shopping, also called domestic labor

Question 7

division of labor

Answer 7

the specialization of work tasks by means of which different occupations are combined within a production system. all societies have at least some rudimentary form of division of labor, especially between the tasks allocated to men and those performed by women. with the development of industrialism, the division of labor became vastly more complex than in any prior type of production system. in the modern world, the division of labor is international in scope

Question 8

economic interdependence

Answer 8

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

Question 9

corporations

Answer 9

business firms of companies

Question 10

family capitalism

Answer 10

capitalistic enterprise owned and administered by entrepreneurial families

Question 11

entrepreneur

Answer 11

the owner/founder of a business firm

Question 12

managerial capitalism

Answer 12

capitalistic enterprises administered by managerial executives rather than by owners

Question 13

welfare capitalism

Answer 13

the practice by which large corporations protect their employees from the fluctuations of the economy

Question 14

institutional capitalism

Answer 14

consolidated networks of business leaderships in which corporations hold stock shares in one another, resulting in increased concentration of power

Question 15

interlocking directorates

Answer 15

linkages among corporations created by individuals who sit on two or more corporate boards

Question 16

global capitalism

Answer 16

the current transnational phase of capitalism, characterized by global markers, production, and finance; a transnational capitalist class whose business concerns are global rather than national; and transnational systems of governance (such as the world trade organization) that promote global business interests

Question 17

fordism

Answer 17

the system of production pioneered by Henry ford, in which the assembly line was introduced

Question 18

Taylorism

Answer 18

a set of ideas, also referred to as scientific management, developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor, involving simple, coordinated operations in industry

Question 19

low trust systems

Answer 19

organizational or work settings in which people are allowed little responsibility for, or control over, the work task

Question 20

high trust systems

Answer 20

organizational or work settings in which individuals are permitted a great deal of autonomy and control over the work task

Question 21

alienation

Answer 21

the sense that our own abilities as human beings are taken over by other entities. The term was originally used by Karl Marx to refer to the projection of human powers onto gods. subsequently, he used the term to refer to the loss of workers’ control over the nature and products of their labor

Question 22

post-fordism

Answer 22

the period characterized by the transition from mass industrial production, using fordist methods, to more flexible forms of production favoring innovation and aimed at meeting market demands for customized products

Question 23

flexible production

Answer 23

a manufacturing system involving a complex network of contract factories that enable both the process of production, and the product Itself, to be quickly modified in order to meet changing demand and market conditions

Question 24

outsourcing

Answer 24

a business practice that sends production of materials to factories around the world. the components of one final product often originate from many different countries and then are sent elsewhere to be put together and sold. factories from different countries must compete with one another to maintain business

Question 25

informal economy

Answer 25

economic transactions carried on outside the sphere of orthodox paid employment

Question 26

monopoly

Answer 26

the domination by a single firm in a given industry

Question 27

oligopoly

Answer 27

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

Question 28

transnational (or multinational) corporations

Answer 28

business corporations located in two or more countries

Question 29

international division of labor

Answer 29

the specialization in producing goods for the world market that divides regions into zones of industrial or agricultural production or high or low skilled labor

Question 30

strike

Answer 30

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

Question 31

unemployment rate

Answer 31

the proportion of the population 16 and older that is actively seeking work but is unable to find employment

Question 32

union density

Answer 32

a statistic that represents the number of union members as a percentage of the number of people who could potentially be union members

Question 33

automation

Answer 33

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

Question 34

knowledge economy

Answer 34

a society no longer based primarily on the production of material goods but instead on the production of knowledge. its emergence has been linked to the development of a broad base of consumers who are technologically literate and have made new advances in the computing, entertainment, and telecommunications part of their lives.