Society: Ch.12 Economics and Politics

*True*:
The economy organizes the *production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services*.

*False*:
Compared to agricultural work, *industrial jobs* involve *more specialization*.

*False*:
The invention of the corporation is *not* generally taken as the point at which a postindustrial society emerged.

*True*:
The Information Revolution requires workers to gain *literacy skills* instead of the mechanical skills that were important during the Industrial Revolution.

*False*:
The concepts "primary sector," "secondary sector," and "tertiary sector" refer to the *different parts of the economy*.

*True*:
The global economy pays *little* regard to *national borders*.

*True*:
Taken together, local, state, and federal governments are the U.S.'s *largest single employer*.

*False*:
The concept "state capitalism" refers all productive companies being *privately owned* but *cooperate closely with the government*.

*True*:
Socialist economies create *greater economic equality* than capitalist economies, but with a *lower overall living standard*.

*True*:
*Denmark* is an example of a European nation with a system of *welfare capitalism* in which *high taxes* pay for extensive government-provided benefits.

*False*:
Union membership peaked around 1970 at almost 25 million. Since then, membership has declined.

*True*:
The concept "paraprofessional" refers to work that *requires skills*, but typically *lacks a broad theoretical knowledge of a field*.

*True*:
The *self-employed* are more likely to have *blue-collar* jobs than white-collar jobs.

*True*:
A recent trend in the United States is a *steady rise* in the share of small businesses owned by *women*.

*False*:
In recent years, the *highest* unemployment rates in the United States have been among *teenagers*.

*False*:
The U.S. workforce is becoming *less* "white," even as immigration rates rise.

*False*:
One effect of computer technology is giving workers *less* power over their employers.

*True*:
Conglomerates are *giant corporations* composed of *many smaller corporations*.

*False*:
Oligopoly refers to the domination of a market by *a few producers*.

*False*:
Monopoly refers to the domination of a market by *a single producer*.

*True*:
Large corporations dominate *many markets in the global economy*.

*True*:
The concept of "government" refers to the formal organization that *directs the political life of a society*.

*False*:
According to Max Weber, authority is *not* just another word for power.

*False*:
Authority refers to power that people perceive as *legitimate*.

*True*:
Charismatic authority is based on *extraordinary personal abilities*.

*True*:
Rational-legal authority is also called *"bureaucratic authority"* because it is *legitimized by legally enacted rules and regulations*.

*False*:
Weber's idea of the routinization of charisma is the claim that *charisma exists when charismatic authority is transformed* into some combination of *traditional and bureaucratic authority*.

*True*:
Democracy and rational-legal authority are linked, just as *monarchy* and *traditional authority* are linked.

*True*:
Authoritarian governments give people *little* voice in politics.

*True*:
In a totalitarian political system, *one political organization* claims *total control* of society.

*False*:
Although the economy is becoming more and more global, the world remains *divided into nation-states*. However, *politics has become a global process*.

*False*:
Both *special interest groups and political action committees* represent both *liberal and conservative interests*.

*False*:
The pluralist model states that the United States is far *more democratic* than most people would like to think, because *power is spread widely enough so that all groups have some voice*.

*True*:
The sociologist closely associated with the power-elite model is *C. Wright Mills*.

*True*:
Extensive civil liberties make democratic societies *more vulnerable to terrorism*.

*True*:
The concept "military-industrial complex" refers to the *close association* among *the federal government, the military, and defense industries*.

As a *social institution*, the economy....
- produces and distributes goods and services;
- guides the consumption of goods and services; and
- operates in a relatively predictable manner.

The three technological revolutions are:
- the *Agricultural* Revolution;
- the *Industrial* Revolution; and
- the *Information* Revolution.

The economy first became a distinct social institution during the stage of *agrarian* societies.

The Industrial Revolution was based on *new sources of energy*.

The *steam engine* launched the Industrial Revolution.

The postindustrial economy is defined by *service work* and *computer technology*.

*Postindustrial economy* refers to an economy based on computer technology.

It is *not* correct that there was a shift from *farming* to *turning raw materials into finished products* during the Information Revolution.

During the Information Revolution, it is correct that there were shifts....
- from from making tangible products to generating ideas;
- from mechanical skills to literacy skills; and
- from working in factories to working almost anywhere.

Looking at economies around the world, the primary sector is the largest in *low-income* nations.

The expansion of office work marks the growth of the economy's *tertiary sector*.

In the United States, about *80 percent* of the labor force performs tertiary sector work.

*Globalization of the economy* means that....
- world regions specialize in one sector of economic activity;
- more and more products pass through several nations; and
- a small number of businesses represent a huge share of global economic output.

*Capitalism* is an economic system in which there is *private ownership of property*.

In a *capitalist* economic system, justice amounts to *freedom of the marketplace* allowing people to *follow their self-interest*.

The social thinker whose ideas supported *the operation of a free-market economy* most was *Adam Smith*.

The United States is a mostly capitalist nation because *the vast majority of productive businesses are privately owned*.

*Socialism* is an economic system in which there is *collective control of production*.

A *laissez-faire economy* does *not* describe the operation of a socialist economy.

The operation of a *socialist economy* is described by....
- collective orientation;
- government control of production; and
- command economy.

*Welfare capitalism* refers to a political and economic system that combines *a mostly market-based economy* with *extensive social welfare programs*.

An example of a European country with a mostly private economy and extensive social welfare programs is *Sweden*.

The concept *"state capitalism"* refers to a system in which *privately owned companies cooperate closely with the government*.

Contrasted to socialist economic systems, *capitalist economic systems* are typically *more productive*.

Concerning the issue of personal freedom, capitalist systems emphasize people's *freedom to pursue their self-interest*, while socialist systems emphasize people's *freedom from basic want*.

In the United States, about *59 percent* of the population aged sixteen and older is *in the paid labor force*.

By *1950*, most of the people in the U.S. labor force had *white-collar* jobs.

In recent decades, union membership has *declined in the United States and other high-income nations*.

The description of *working for a large, well-established company* does *not* apply to a profession.

A *profession* is described by....
- having theoretical knowledge of a field;
- having authority over clients; and
- professing a community, rather than an individual.

*Hispanic women* are showing the *greatest labor-force increase* in terms of *percentage*.

Computers are....
- deskilling labor;
- limiting workplace interaction; and
- enhancing employers' control of workers.

A conglomerate is *a giant corporation* composed of *many smaller corporations*.

The concept "oligopoly" refers to *domination of a market by a few producers*.

Modernization theorists see large corporations as *unleashing the productive power of capitalism* to *speed development in poor nations*.

Dependency theorists see large corporations as *intensifying global inequality*.

*Politics* is a social institution that is defined in terms of a society's *distribution of power, goals, and decision making*.

Max Weber defined power as the *ability to achieve desired ends*, despite *resistance*.

*Government* refers to the formal organization that directs the political life of a society.

*Preindustrial societies* are characterized by having mostly *traditional* authority.

Industrialization *decreases* the importance of *traditional* authority.

As *Max Weber* saw it, the essential difference between power and authority is that *people perceive authority as legitimate, rather than coercive*.

*People who attract followers*, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, display *charismatic* authority.

*Max Weber* said that with *charismatic* authority, a *crisis* results with the *death of the leader*.

*Monarchy* refers to a political system in which *a single family rules from generation to generation*.

*Democracy* refers to a political system in which *power resides in the hands of the people as a whole*.

*Most high-income nations* in the world today claim to be *democratic*.

You might argue that *the United States is not truly democratic* because....
- there is a lot of economic inequality;
- millions of bureaucratic officials are not elected; and
- rich people have much more influence on our way of life than poor people.

The concept *"authoritarian"* refers to a political system that *denies most people participation in government*.

*North Korea* comes closest to having a political system that is "*totalitarian*".

The statement that about 40 percent of people are *moderates who fall near the political center* describes how the U.S. population falls on the political spectrum.

*Poverty* would be described as an economic issue.

In general, *high-income* people tend to be *liberal* on social issues and tend to be *conservative* on economic issues.

The National Rifle Association is an example of a *special-interest group*.

In the *2008 presidential election*, about *63 percent* of registered voters actually *went to the polls*.

*Hispanic people* are *least* likely to vote in national elections.

A *pluralist approach* to the U.S. political system suggests that *power is widely dispersed throughout society*.

Factors *encouraging political revolution* include....
- rising expectation of a better life;
- unresponsive government; and
- radical leadership by intellectuals.

*Terrorism* refers to *the use or threat of *violence as a political strategy* by an individual or group.

*State terrorism* refers to the use of violence by governments, often against their own people.

It is *true* that....
- whether someone is a "terrorist" or a "freedom fighter" is often a matter of definition;
- democratic societies are especially vulnerable to terrorism; and
- identifying and effectively targeting terrorists is usually difficult.

With respect to *war*, the text explains that there is *nothing in our human biology* that *makes it natural to go to war*.

A sociological profile of *men and women in the U.S. armed forces today* reveals a large share of young people who....
- are of working-class background;
- are looking to the military for a job; and
- join the military to earn money for college or just to get out of a small home town.

*Terrorism* has been called a new kind of warfare because it *lacks clearly stated objectives* and *is not about controlling territory*.

The world as a whole spends about *$1.6 trillion* annually for *military purposes*.

The military-industrial complex refers to *the close link between the government, defense industries, and the military*.

For almost fifty years, *deterrence* has kept the peace between the world's nuclear superpowers.

In *2011*, a wave of popular uprisings seeking *more democratic government* swept across *the Middle East*.