Human Geo Unit 7 (Chapters 10-11) CED Questions Flashcards
What is the guild system?
Before the industrial revolution, most manufacturing was done under the guild system, where craft goods were made in small, independent, and isolated operations. Guilds were trade associations formed by the dominant manufacturers in a society, and they set standards for quality, and controlled production, price, and output.
Why was China not the hearth of the industrial revolution?
Because of its coal (in the north, away from economic activity), and its rapid population growth provided little incentive for machines and labor-intensive methods, Confusian discouragement of experimentation, lack of gov’t support, and China’s focus on defending itself from nomadic attacks on the north and west.
Give examples of harsh conditions in European colonies:
Belgium’s king controlled the DRC and made Africans work on rubber/palm oil plantations or mines, and this caused the population to greatly decrease. The British and French used their African colonies as sources for raw materials. The British flooded South Asia with their cheap textiles produced from cotton they got from India; which led to the destruction of the local textile industry.
What is the Least Cost Theory that explains industrial locations?
In a capitalist system, location decisions are based on profit (or ensuring that the cost of transporting raw materials to the manufacturing site and finished products to the market will be low), and that transportation costs were the MOST important. His theory is based on the locational triangle (with 2 inputs and a market), and according to his theory, where raw material is found and how $ it is to transport it are 2 important features. Transportation costs depend on if the industry is a bulk-reducing or bulk-gaining industry.
Later, how did scholars modify Weber’s work?
By adding the factors of labor (labor costs, labor unions) and agglomeration (the advantage for companies in the same or similar industries near each other to take advantage of specialized labor, materials, and services–meaning that competitors are located near each other, but benefit from that and can assist each other. Agglomeration often occurs at break-of- bulk points) to also contribute to the location of a factory.
Gross National Product
An estimate of the total value of all goods and services produced in a country in a given period by the means of production OWNED by a country’s residents (not necessarily within the country’s borders). It can be deceptive (ex. If a nation’s wealthiest citizens move their money offshore).
Formal Economy
Businesses, enterprises, other economic activities that have gov’t supervision, regulation, monitoring, protection, and are taxed. Included in a country’s GDP and GNI, and are typical professions. Larger formal economy = more developed.
Informal Aconomy
Any part of a country’s economy that is outside of gov’t monitoring or regulation & isn’t taxed. People/businesses in this sector deal in cash (under the table).
What are criticisms of Rostow’s model?
It is a western model, which doesn’t fit non-western cultures and non-capitalists; it encourages exploitation of developing countries; it suggests all movement progression and doesn’t account for assistance and regression that can occur; that it doesn’t account for factors that limit or inhibit development (physical geography, population, and political systems); it counts on mass consumption (not considering sustainable development); it doesn’t consider limitations in resources due to countries who developed first exploiting resources and leaving little behind.
Dependency Theory
Suggests that global inequality is caused by colonialism and neocolonialism. The World Systems Theory stemmed from it. It views low-income countries as victims of exploitation, and the needs of the core keep the periphery in a state of underdevelopment.
World System Theory
Created by Immanuel Wallerstein, an American sociologist/historian in the 1970s, and it views the entire globe as a single economic system bound together through a network of trade and communications. He says that Core consumer goods and money go to periphery countries, and cheap labor/natural resources are brought to core countries.
Comparative Advantage
The ability to produce a good or service at a lower cost than others (ex. Chinese factory workers receive lower wages than US factory workers).
Complementarity
Mutually beneficial trade relationships between 2 countries (when a country has the income, goods, or services that another country desires). There must be a demand in one place and a supply matching it in another. (Ex. Canada’s maple syrup going to Costa Rica, and the latter sending back coffee). When complementarity doesn’t exist, trade is heavily weighed in one direction (ex. US consumers can desire/afford more Chinese products, but Chinese consumers desire/afford fewer US products).
Neoliberalism
The belief that open markets and free trade (2 characteristics of capitalism) across the globe will lead to economic development everywhere, lessen tensions between countries by fostering support for core values, and spread democracy and human rights.
Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
An area within a country that is subject to different and more beneficial economic regulations than other areas. Governments provide them with more accessible and reliable infrastructure, tax incentives, lower tariffs, etc.
