Transcript SOCIAL PROBLEMS SOCIAL TOPICS

Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Chapter 7:
Politics and the Economy
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Economic Systems


Politics and economics have similar effects
on social order
Social Institutions
• Systems within a society that provide
frameworks for individuals

Two basic types of Economic Systems (or
Economies):
• Capitalism
• Socialism
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Capitalism
• An economic system in which individuals and private
corporations can own and operate production of goods
• Characterized by three main components
 Private ownership of property
 Profit motivation
 Competition in a free market

Profit motivation in capitalism can help people
rise from poverty
• Can also create problems in society
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Monopolies
• Companies with exclusive control of production
or trade of a product

Because profit is underlying motive of
capitalism
• Employee-related problems can occur
 Danger of companies exploiting workers
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Capitalism needs a free market in which it
can create competition
• Provides consumers with more goods while
keeping prices low
• “Law of supply and demand”

Elasticity of Demand
• Demand for products doesn’t change much
when the prices go up
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Karl Marx
• First and most vocal critic of capitalism
 This economic system eventually leads to the
exploitation of the common people

Socialism
• an economic system by which resources and means of
production are owned collectively by the citizens
• Proposed by Karl Marx

Socialism based on idea that goods and services
are produced and distributed to meet needs of
society, not generate a profit
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Socialist economies can create social
problems
• If individual gain not possible, why strive to
create new and innovative things
• Socialism stifles individuals

Pure forms of capitalism and socialism
don’t exist
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Democratic Socialism
• Type of economic system involving blend of
free market capitalism and government
regulation of the economy
• Government takes active role in redistributing
wealth of the nation to decrease inequality

Convergence Theory
• Blending of capitalism and socialism
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Global Economy

Corporation
• A legal entity that has an objective:
 Make a profit for its owners


People who make up international corporations
are often a mixture of diverse nationalities
Transnational Corporations (Multinational
Corporations)
• Businesses that operate in at least two countries and
have the interests of their company at heart rather than
the interests of their country of origin
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Trends in the U.S. Economy


June 2009, unemployment rate 9.7%
Society is influenced by Demographics
• Statistical characteristics of human population

By U.S. government standards People
classified as unemployed:
• If they do not have a job
• Actively looking for work
• Currently available to start employment
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Entrepreneurship
• Refers to creation of new organizations in
response to economic and social opportunities

Entrepreneur
• Person who establishes, organizes, manages,
and assumes all risks of an organization
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Free Trade and Political Objectives


International conflicts and national health
regulations created need to place certain
restrictions on transactions
Embargo
• A restriction on trade enforced by government
 Cuba, 1962

Tariffs
• Taxes placed on traded items
• High tariffs limit amount of trade because
added tax makes cost too high for consumers
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
• Established in 1994 to allow free trade on agricultural
products between United States, Mexico, and Canada
• Removing all tariffs provided major economic boost for
these countries
• Benefit both developing and developed nations
• Allow developing countries opportunity to sell products
at a fair price
• Provide wider variety of products with competitive
pricing to wealthy countries
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Political Systems


Power of economics holds a government together
Sociologist Max Weber
• Political systems are based on three forms of authority
 Traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal authority
• Traditional System
 Social power is achieved through general respect for
patterns of government
 Monarchy
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued
• Charismatic Systems
 Power gained by a leader who has
extraordinary personal attributes
 Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, and Aung San
Suu Kyi
• Rational-legal Authority
 Stems from the rules and standards
officially sanctified by a society
 Rights and regulations in the Constitution
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Types of Government

Monarchy
• Political system based on idea that leaders are selected
by heritage or divine right
• Usually run by a single family that passes power down
through generations

Authoritarianism
• Form of government that gives citizens little say in how
nation is run and encourages absolute submission to
authority
 Dictator – Single person with complete control
 Oligarchy – Small group of influential people who rule
the nation together
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Totalitarianism
• Government can tell people how many children to have,
what jobs to hold, and where they can live
• Regardless of degree of freedom, average citizen’s voice
is not heard in authoritarian regimes

Democracy
• Political system in which power is held by citizens and
exercised through participation and representation
• Literally means “rule by the people” in Greek
• Pure democratic societies allow citizens to make every
decision, but is difficult to maintain
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Representative Democracy
•
•
•
•
U.S. government
We choose officials through state-run elections
Officials given authority to make decisions for us
Problem is not every citizen takes advantage of the right
to elect leaders
• Voter Apathy
 Citizens with the right to vote choose not to
 Not everyone’s voice is heard
 Tends to affect racial minorities the most
 Percentage of minority voters historically less than
white voters
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Political Parties

Politics in United States essentially based
on a two-party system
• Democratic Party and the Republican Party
• Both agree that social issues such as
unemployment, unequal education, and
problems in health care exist
• They differ in the solutions that they propose
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued




Democrats prefer having the government solve
social problems
Republicans prefer the private sector deal with
them
Democrats generally support expanded
government services
Republicans encourage independence from
government
• Suggest individuals can solve social issues if government
simply gets out of the way
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Republicans tend to focus on individual
morality
• Sexual morality

Democrats tend to talk about social
morality
• Lack of equality for the poor
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Functionalism


Functionalists find political systems
naturally balanced
Robert Dahl
• Power distributed widely enough in
democracies that groups are driven to compete
and work with each other to achieve goals
• Competition and Alliance
 Lead groups to temper their ideals, leaving
society solidly in the middle, balancing
between extremes
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein
• Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health,
Wealth, and Happiness
 When left to our own devices, we often
make wrong decisions
• Many competing choices in our economy
 People don’t make decisions based on
what’s rational, but based on what’s easiest
or most popular
• This theory is known as Economic Behaviorism
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Contemporary sociologist Amitai Etzioni
• Acknowledges interrelation betweens social structures
and individual choices
• One of the founders of Communitarianism
 For society to function properly, must have
communal set of values that guide social policies
• Society is made up of three components:
 Community, market, and government
 Each sector plays essential role; but all three interact
with each other constantly
• Crucial part of society is being able to see ourselves not
only as individuals, but also as part of a community:
decisions are made with the best interests of all in mind
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Conflict Theory

Sociologist C. Wright Mills
• Suggested that a power elite runs the United
States
 Comprises top military officials, heads of
major corporations, and high-ranking
political leaders
 Pulls strings that control economy and
politics of American society
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

William Domhoff
• United States ruled by those with most societal power
• Interlocking Directorates
 Involves placing same people on a variety of
corporate boards allowing separate companies to be
controlled by a small, elite group
• This group often interacts with political leaders in
exclusive clubs
 Directing (or at least strongly influencing) course of
U.S. government
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Symbolic Interactionism


Symbolic interactionists focus on how people
define issues, and how those definitions influence
actions
James Surowiecki: The Wisdom of Crowds
• Groups of people are smarter than small clusters or
even individuals, no matter how intelligent those people
may be
• Large crowds effective because they think collectively
and can easily influence change
 They do this through process of interaction not even
recognized by the group
 Amazing ability to predict and affect outcomes of
environments
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Political Funding



In US most political campaigns not selffunded
Few have wealth to pay for national TV
ads or print advertising
In US
• Funding comes from individuals and groups
• Have vested interest in candidate or political
party candidate represents
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.
Continued

Political Action Committees (PACs)
• Provide great deal of party donations
• Might allocate money to both parties
• Are often associated with either Democrats or
Republicans

2002, McCain-Feingold-Cochran Bipartisan
Campaign Reform Bill
• Prevent contributions from being distributed through
unethical means
• Bill involves ban on “soft money”
 Onetime cash contributions to national political
parties from corporations, labor unions, and wealthy
individuals
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All rights reserved.