Economic Structuralism Terms

Question 1

dependency (dependencia)

Answer 1

• theoretical approach originating in Latin America in the 1950s that describes the economic division of labour between the wealthy core states and poor periphery states

Question 2

Marxism

Answer 2

• ideology developed by Karl Marx as a critique of capitalism focusing on the unequal economic relationship and the struggle between the worker and the owner

Question 3

bourgeoisie

Answer 3

• the capitalist class in Marxism

Question 4

proletariat

Answer 4

• the working class in Marxism

Question 5

core

Answer 5

• wealthy, industrialized area in Immanual Wallerstein’s world systems theory; used to describe the richest states in the international system

Question 6

periphery

Answer 6

• term used to describe the poorest areas and states in dependency and world-systems theory

Question 7

semi-periphery

Answer 7

• the states that occupy a political and economic space between the core and the periphery in world-systems theory.

Question 8

epochs

Answer 8

• term used by Marx to describe five specific historical stages of economic development including primitive, slave, feudal, capitalism, and finally, socialism.

Question 9

mode of production

Answer 9

• term used by Karl Marx to describe how the state organizes the means of production of goods and services, for example, feudalism or capitalism.

Question 10

means of production

Answer 10

• term used by Karl Marx to describe the raw materials as well as the tools necessary for production, such as facilities, machines, land, and infrastructure

Question 11

relations of production

Answer 11

• describes the relationship between the capitalist, or the owners of the means of production, and the workers

Question 12

economic base

Answer 12

• term used by Marx to describe the economic structure of a society

Question 13

superstructure

Answer 13

• term used by Marx to define and describe the laws, institutions, and culture of a soceity

Question 14

Theory of Surplus Value

Answer 14

• the added value applied to the raw materials by labour

Question 15

underconsumption

Answer 15

• a condition in society resulting in a decline in the purchase of goods due to low wages.

Question 16

law of the concentration of capital

Answer 16

• one of Marx’s three laws of capitalism; capital accrues in the hands of fewer and fewer capitalists resulting in an increase on the impoverished masses

Question 17

law of decreasing profits

Answer 17

• one of Marx’s three laws of capitalism; a decrease in the rate of return that results when the concentration of capital and surplus occurs.

Question 18

law of disproportionality

Answer 18

• one of Marx’s three laws of capitalism that focuses on the how lower wages leads to underconsumption that leads to a surplus.

Question 19

Revolutions of 1848

Answer 19

• a series of upheavels throughout Europe in response to dissatisfaction with political leadership and the conditions of the working lass. The demands centered around political participation and democratic reforms.

Question 20

law of uneven devleopment

Answer 20

• contribution of Lenin to Marxism; the overabundance of capital due to the three laws of Marx leads to uneven economic development among the capitalist states. This uneven development increases the conflict in the international system.