Economic Sociology

Question 1

According to numerous studies, spanning decades, women make less money than men- depending on the study, about 15% less.

Answer 1

Gender wage (or pay) gap

Question 2

Sometimes, employers simply like certain workers more than others and reward them more highly.

Answer 2

Discrimination in pay

Question 3

The concentration of men and women in different jobs that partially explains the pay gap

Answer 3

The gendered segregation of work

Question 4

When a job is perceived to be appropriate for either men or women, but not both

Answer 4

Gender typed

Question 5

Understanding how “social things” are wrapped up in what we buy, who we hire, and how we run businesses

Answer 5

Economic sociology

Question 6

The rules and systems we use to organize our economic lives

Answer 6

Economic institutions

Question 7

As societies develop and grow, people can no longer do every type of labor. They divide the labor up, specialize, and become more efficient

Answer 7

Division of labor

Question 8

The differences in income and jobs

Answer 8

Economic inequality

Question 9

the US Census measure of the income needed to buy a minimally-sufficient amount of food and shelter

Answer 9

Poverty line

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Human capital theory

Question 11

Your skills and knowledge that allow you to be productive at work and produce economic value

Answer 11

Human capital

Question 12

The extra money that college graduates make

Answer 12

College premium

Question 13

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

Answer 13

Discrimination theory

Question 14

When an employer or customer pays more to some groups than others for providing the same service or good

Answer 14

Taste-based discrimination

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Statistical discrimination

Question 16

Often, one group will actively try to exclude another in an attempt to defend its occupational “turf”

Answer 16

Social closure

Question 17

Laws that banned newly freed slaves from entering desirable trades

Answer 17

Black Codes

Question 18

The lands that Native Americans were forced to live on

Answer 18

Reservations

Question 19

Groups of people organized together by the owners to generate profit

Answer 19

Corporations

Question 20

Institutions governed by official laws and written policies about what they are allowed to do

Answer 20

Formal institutions

Question 21

Institutions guided by unwritten rules about what is expected

Answer 21

Informal institutions

Question 22

Unwritten rules guiding behavior

Answer 22

Social norms

Question 23

People who organize around a political issue

Answer 23

Political activists

Question 24

The different people who have a financial or political investment in a corporation

Answer 24

Stakeholders

Question 25

An ordered system that provides structure and discipline for employees

Answer 25

Bureaucracy

Question 26

An organization with loose boundaries that allow people and ideas to enter or leave

Answer 26

Open systems

Question 27

A method of recording value in a particular society

Answer 27

Money

Question 28

When a government declares that specific paper or coins are the official money

Answer 28

Fiat currency (“command” currency)

Question 29

When money is literally a commodity, such as a gold coin, or represents commodities, like old bank notes

Answer 29

Commodity money

Question 30

When forms of money lose value

Answer 30

Inflation

Question 31

Digital form of currency that is not tied to any government or nation

Answer 31

Bitcoin

Question 32

A yearly study of the American population that provides the government and the public with important data about the country

Answer 32

Current Population Survey (CPS)

Question 33

Amount at which half of households make less than that income and half make more

Answer 33

Median annual household income

Question 34

Federal organization that conducts a census of all households every ten years and sets key definitions such as the poverty line

Answer 34

US Census Bureau

Question 35

The percentage of people who are classified as falling below the poverty line

Answer 35

Poverty rate

Question 36

Not meant to be an exact measurement, but a guess about the amount needed to avoid extreme hardship

Answer 36

Poverty line (or poverty threshold)

Question 37

So much wealth is generated from banks, mutual funds, and investment firms, organizations whose main purpose is collecting and investing vast sums of money

Answer 37

Financialized economy

Question 38

The large-scale analysis of markets

Answer 38

Political economy

Question 39

Displacement of older businesses and forms of employment as innovative businesses enter the marketplace and improve goods and services

Answer 39

Creative destruction

Question 40

Political instability created due to exploitation of workers

Answer 40

Contradiction within market economies

Question 41

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)

Answer 41

Socialism

Question 42

Societies where people privately own firms and seek profits

Answer 42

Capitalist societies