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Key Terms Chapter 18: Work and the Economy

  • Page ID
    143155
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    Glossary Entries
    Word(s)DefinitionImageCaptionLinkSource
    Automationworkers being replaced by technology    
    Barteringa process where people exchange one form of goods or services for another    
    Capitalisman 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    
    Career Inheritancea practice where children tend to enter the same or similar occupation as their parents    
    Convergence Theorya sociological theory to explain how and why societies move toward similarity over time as their economies develop    
    Depressiona sustained recession across several economic sectors    
    Economythe social institution through which a society’s resources (goods and services) are managed    
    Global Assembly Linesa practice where products are assembled over the course of several international transactions    
    Global Commodity Chainsinternationally integrated economic links that connect workers and corporations for the purpose of manufacture and marketing    
    Market Socialisma subtype of socialism that adopts certain traits of capitalism, like allowing limited private ownership or consulting market demand    
    Mechanical Solidaritya form of social cohesion that comes from sharing similar work, education, and religion, as might be found in simpler societies    
    Mercantilisman economic policy based on national policies of accumulating silver and gold by controlling markets with colonies and other countries through taxes and customs charges    
    Moneyan object that a society agrees to assign a value to so it can be exchanged as payment    
    Mutualisma form of socialism under which individuals and cooperative groups exchange products with one another on the basis of mutually satisfactory contracts    
    Organic Solidaritya form of social cohesion that arises out of the mutual interdependence created by the specialization of work    
    Outsourcinga practice where jobs are contracted to an outside source, often in another country    
    Polarizationa practice where the differences between low-end and high-end jobs become greater and the number of people in the middle levels decreases    
    Recessiontwo or more consecutive quarters of economic decline    
    Socialisman 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    
    Structural Unemploymenta societal level of disjuncture between people seeking jobs and the jobs that are available    
    Subsistence Farmingfarming where farmers grow only enough to feed themselves and their families    
    Underemploymenta 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    
    Xenophobiaan illogical fear and even hatred of foreigners and foreign goods    
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