Economic Sociology Flashcards
According to numerous studies, spanning decades, women make less money than men- depending on the study, about 15% less.
Gender wage (or pay) gap
Sometimes, employers simply like certain workers more than others and reward them more highly.
Discrimination in pay
The concentration of men and women in different jobs that partially explains the pay gap
The gendered segregation of work
When a job is perceived to be appropriate for either men or women, but not both
Gender typed
Understanding how “social things” are wrapped up in what we buy, who we hire, and how we run businesses
Economic sociology
The rules and systems we use to organize our economic lives
Economic institutions
As societies develop and grow, people can no longer do every type of labor. They divide the labor up, specialize, and become more efficient
Division of labor
The differences in income and jobs
Economic inequality
the US Census measure of the income needed to buy a minimally-sufficient amount of food and shelter
Poverty line
A theory that suggests that skills lead to income. If you have a skill that is highly desired, you will make more money than people with less-desired skills
Human capital theory
Your skills and knowledge that allow you to be productive at work and produce economic value
Human capital
The extra money that college graduates make
College premium
An example of this theory: women and men are capable of performing the same management tasks at Citicorp, but perhaps the bank’s leaders simply like men more than women so they pay men more
Discrimination theory
When an employer or customer pays more to some groups than others for providing the same service or good
Taste-based discrimination
Occurs when an employer pays people from a certain group less because members of that group in general do not perform as well as others; this is a form of discrimination because bosses are distinguishing between workers based on group membership rather than their individual skills
Statistical discrimination
Often, one group will actively try to exclude another in an attempt to defend its occupational “turf”
Social closure
Laws that banned newly freed slaves from entering desirable trades
Black Codes
The lands that Native Americans were forced to live on
Reservations
Groups of people organized together by the owners to generate profit
Corporations
Institutions governed by official laws and written policies about what they are allowed to do
Formal institutions
Institutions guided by unwritten rules about what is expected
Informal institutions
Unwritten rules guiding behavior
Social norms
People who organize around a political issue
Political activists
The different people who have a financial or political investment in a corporation
Stakeholders
An ordered system that provides structure and discipline for employees
Bureaucracy
An organization with loose boundaries that allow people and ideas to enter or leave
Open systems
A method of recording value in a particular society
Money
When a government declares that specific paper or coins are the official money
Fiat currency (“command” currency)
When money is literally a commodity, such as a gold coin, or represents commodities, like old bank notes
Commodity money
When forms of money lose value
Inflation
Digital form of currency that is not tied to any government or nation
Bitcoin
A yearly study of the American population that provides the government and the public with important data about the country
Current Population Survey (CPS)
Amount at which half of households make less than that income and half make more
Median annual household income
Federal organization that conducts a census of all households every ten years and sets key definitions such as the poverty line
US Census Bureau
The percentage of people who are classified as falling below the poverty line
Poverty rate
Not meant to be an exact measurement, but a guess about the amount needed to avoid extreme hardship
Poverty line (or poverty threshold)
So much wealth is generated from banks, mutual funds, and investment firms, organizations whose main purpose is collecting and investing vast sums of money
Financialized economy
The large-scale analysis of markets
Political economy
Displacement of older businesses and forms of employment as innovative businesses enter the marketplace and improve goods and services
Creative destruction
Political instability created due to exploitation of workers
Contradiction within market economies
A social system governed by a state composed of workers and there would be little, or no, private industry (this is naive to me lol)
Socialism
Societies where people privately own firms and seek profits
Capitalist societies
