Chapter 18

Question 1

automation

Answer 1

workers being replaced by technology

Question 2

bartering

Answer 2

a process where people exchange one form of goods or services for another

Question 3

capitalism

Answer 3

an economic system in which there is private ownership (as opposed to state ownership) and where there is an impetus to produce profit, and thereby wealth

Question 4

career inheritance

Answer 4

a practice where children tend to enter the same or similar occupation as their parents

Question 5

convergence theory

Answer 5

a sociological theory to explain how and why societies move toward similarity over time as their economies develop

Question 6

depression

Answer 6

a sustained recession across several economic sectors

Question 7

economy

Answer 7

the social institution through which a society’s resources (goods and services) are managed

Question 8

global assembly lines

Answer 8

a practice where products are assembled over the course of several international transactions

Question 9

global commodity chains

Answer 9

internationally integrated economic links that connect workers and corporations for the purpose of manufacture and marketing

Question 10

market socialism

Answer 10

a subtype of socialism that adopts certain traits of capitalism, like allowing limited private ownership or consulting market demand

Question 11

mechanical solidarity

Answer 11

a form of social cohesion that comes from sharing similar work, education, and religion, as might be found in simpler societies

Question 12

mercantilism

Answer 12

an economic policy based on national policies of accumulating silver and gold by controlling markets with colonies and other countries through taxes and customs charges

Question 13

money

Answer 13

an object that a society agrees to assign a value to so it can be exchanged as payment

Question 14

mutualism

Answer 14

a form of socialism under which individuals and cooperative groups exchange products with one another on the basis of mutually satisfactory contracts

Question 15

organic solidarity

Answer 15

a form of social cohesion that arises out of the mutual interdependence created by the specialization of work

Question 16

outsourcing

Answer 16

a practice where jobs are contracted to an outside source, often in another country

Question 17

polarization

Answer 17

a practice where the differences between low-end and high-end jobs become greater and the number of people in the middle levels decreases

Question 18

recession

Answer 18

two or more consecutive quarters of economic decline

Question 19

socialism

Answer 19

an economic system in which there is government ownership (often referred to as “state run”) of goods and their production, with an impetus to share work and wealth equally among the members of a society

Question 20

structural unemployment

Answer 20

a societal level of disjuncture between people seeking jobs and the jobs that are available

Question 21

subsistence farming

Answer 21

farming where farmers grow only enough to feed themselves and their families

Question 22

underemployment

Answer 22

a state in which a person accepts a lower paying, lower status job than his or her education and experience qualifies him or her to perform

Question 23

xenophobia

Answer 23

an illogical fear and even hatred of foreigners and foreign goods