Sociology Chapter 15 The Occupational System and the Labor Market

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CHAPTER 15: ECONOMY AND POLITICS

BRIEF CHAPTER OUTLINE

I. Economy and Society

A. The Industrial Revolution

B. Comparing Economic Systems

II. The Changing Global Economy

A. A More Diverse Workplace

IV. Diverse Groups/Diverse Work Experiences

A. Unemployment and Joblessness

B. Sexual Harassment

C. Gays and Lesbians in the Workplace

D. Disability and Work

V. Sociological Theories of Economy and Work

A. Functionalism

B. Conflict Theory

C. Symbolic Interaction Theory

VI. Power, Politics, and Government

A. State and Society

VIII. Theories of Power

A. The Pluralist Model

B. The Power Elite Model

C. The Autonomous State Model

D. Feminist Theories of the State

IX. Government: Power and Politics in a Diverse Society

A. Diverse Patterns of Political Participation

B. Political Power: Who’s in Charge?

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

1. Compare different types of economic systems.

2. Identify the components of change in the contemporary global economy.

KEY TERMS (listed in text)

alienation (406)

Americans with Disabilities Act

(ADA) (405)

authoritarian (408)

authority (410)

automation (397)

autonomous state model (413)

bureaucracy (410)

capitalism (393)

interest group (411)

interlocking directorate (413)

multinational corporations (393)

nationalism (409)

occupational segregation (401)

outsourcing (394)

pluralist model (411)

political action committees (PACs) (412)

postindustrial society (393)

KEY PEOPLE (listed in text)

Karl Marx (393)

C. Wright Mills (413)

LECTURE OUTLINE

I. Economy and Society

1. All societies are organized around an economic base.

industrial and/or postindustrial society has an economic significance.

A. The Industrial Revolution

1. Agricultural production remains a vast part of the world economy,

but the processes of industrialization have changed it.

2. The Industrial Revolution wrought far-reaching social changes

B. Comparing Economic Systems

1. The three major kinds of economic systems are ideal types:

a. Capitalism is an economic system based on the principles of

2. A country’s economic system shapes the character of the

nation’s other institutions.

a. In many European nations, the global forces of capitalism mix with

socialist principles.

II. The Changing Global Economy

1. The global economy acknowledges that all dimensions of the economy

now cross national borders, including investment, production,

management, markets, labor, information, and technology.

2. A global economy results in an expansion of increasingly powerful

5. U.S. workers have been prone to xenophobia, the fear and hatred of

economic restructuring.

A. More Diverse Workplace

1. Economic restructuring has led to a more diverse workplace,

including more women, racial minorities, and older workers.

B. Deindustrialization

1. Deindustrialization is the transition from a predominantly goods-

producing economy to one based on the provision of services and

involves decline in the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector,

C. Technological Change

1. Rapidly changing and developing technologies are bringing major changes

in the organization and experience of work. One of the most influential

D. Immigration

1. There are approximately 40 million foreign-born people in the United

States, along with 11 million undocumented immigrants, the so-called

III. Social Organization of the Workplace

1. Sociologists define work as productive human activity that creates

something of value.

A. The Division of Labor—the systematic interrelatedness of different

tasks that develop in complex societies—is shaped by gender, race,

class, and age.

1. These divisions of labor intersect, creating unique work experiences for

different groups.

a. The class division of labor is illustrated in work done by people with

B. The Occupational System and the Labor Market

1. From a sociological perspective, jobs are organized into an occupational

system, the array of jobs that together constitute the labor market.

2. Within the occupational system, people are distributed in patterns that

reflect the race, class, and gender organization of society, although

individual attributes are acknowledged as having an impact.

3. The Dual Labor Market traces the causes of race and gender inequality

to the concentration of women and minorities in the secondary labor

IV. Diverse Groups/Diverse Work Experiences

1. The labor force now includes 153 million people in the United States.

2. The dramatic increase in the number of women employed in the labor force

(up to 55% in 2017 compared to 43% in 1976) has caused significant

changes in family life, created new demands for services traditionally

A. Unemployment and Joblessness

1. The official unemployment rate is most likely to undercount groups for

whom unemployment runs the highest—the youngest and oldest

workers, women, and members of racial minority groups. In 2018, the

official unemployment rate was below 4%.

B. Sexual Harassment

1. Workplaces are shaped by power arrangements among workers.

2. Women workers are also more likely to experience sexual harassment,

defined as unwanted physical or verbal sexual behavior that occurs in the

context of a relationship of unequal power and that is experienced as a

threat to the victim’s job or educational activities.

3. The law defines sexual harassment as discriminatory because it places

workers at a disadvantage on the basis of their sex.

C. Gays and Lesbians in the Workplace

1. Surveys find that most people (89%) endorse the general concept that

lesbians and gay men should have equal rights in job opportunities, but a

significant proportion think there are some occupations, such as

D. Disability and Work

1. Sociologist Irving Zola (1935–1994) suggested that people with

disabilities face issues similar to minority groups, and sociologists now

see disabled people as a minority group, emphasizing the group rights of

the disabled and illuminating access to employment and education.

a. The Americans With Disabilities Act (1990) protects those covered by

the legislation from discrimination and mandates “reasonable

V. Sociological Theories of Economy and Work—The major theoretical perspectives

provide frameworks for understanding the social structural forces that are

transforming work.

A. Functionalism—interprets work and the economy as a functional

necessity for a society.

1. Functionalist theorists argue that rapid social and technological

B. Conflict Theory

1. Conflict theorists view the transformations taking place in the

workplace as resulting from tensions inherent in the social system, as

groups with unequal power compete for economic resources.

a. Conflict theorists analyze the fact that some forms of work are more

C. Symbolic Interaction Theory

1. Symbolic interaction studies the meaning of work to those who do it, as

well as how interaction in the workplace supports or undermines social

bonds between people.

VI. Power, Politics, and Government

A. State and Society—The sociological definition of state is the organized

system of power and authority in society; it is an abstract concept that

includes official governmental and legal systems.

1. Theoretically, the state exists to regulate social order ranging from

individual behavior and interpersonal conflicts to international affairs.

6. Sociological analyses of the state focus on the relationship between the

state and inequality in society; and the connection between the state and

other social institutions.

a. The government creates laws and procedures that regulate and guide a

society.

b. The military is the branch of government responsible for defending the

B. The State and Social Order

1. The state maintains public order and decrees what actions are legitimate

and which are not by making laws, by its power to regulate the media, by

circulating propaganda to justify and maintain its power, and by

managing dissent.

C. Global Interdependence and the State

1. The interdependency of national economies has led to elaborately

VII. Power, Authority, and Bureaucracy

1. Power is the ability of one person or group to exercise influence and

control over others.

A. Types of Authority

1. Weber discussed three types of power:

a. traditional, which stems from long-established patterns that give

certain people or groups legitimate power in society (e.g., a

monarchy);

B. The Growth of Bureaucracies

1. Rational-legal authority leads inevitably to the formation of bureaucracies.

VIII. Theories of Power

A. The Pluralist Model, which has its origins in functionalist theory, interprets

power in society as coming from the representations of diverse interests.

1. Interest groups link people and government and can be any constituency

in society organized to promote its own agenda and further its own self-

B. The Power Elite Model developed from the framework of conflict theory of

Karl Marx (1818–1883). This model views the state as an instrument by

which the bourgeoisie, or ruling class, exercises its power by its ownership

positions in the economy, the government, and the military—which enable

them to exercise power and exploit the less well-off social groups such as

the proletariat.

1. C. Wright Mills (1956) expanded on this framework. The power elite make

up the power structure of people well positioned in three areas of society:

the economy, the government, and the military.

C. The Autonomous State Model views the state as an administrative

organization with its own needs, such as maintenance of its complex

bureaucracies and protection of its special privileges.

1. The major concern of the state is maintaining the status quo and

D. Feminist Theories of the State argue that, despite the presence of a few

powerful women, the state is devoted primarily to men’s interests and the

actions of the state tend to support gender inequality.

1. Feminist studies of the state focus on the institutional structures supported

by values, beliefs, behavior, and systems that maintain the hierarchical

relationships by aggression and force and the subjugation of women.

IX. Government: Power and Politics in a Diverse Society

1. Government is one of several institutions of a state that represent the

people, making rules that govern the state.

A. Diverse Patterns of Political Participation

1. The United States has one of the lowest voter turnouts among democratic

nations (58% in the 2016 presidential election).

2. The higher a person’s social class, the higher the likelihood that she or

B. Political Power: Who’s in Charge?

1. Although the government in a democracy is supposed to be

representative, the class, race, and gender composition of the ruling

bodies in the United States indicate that this is hardly the case.

a. Most members of Congress are (WASP) white, well-educated men,

C. Women and Minorities in Government

1. Researchers explain the under-representation of women and minorities

in government in several ways, including public prejudices and social

X. The Military as a Social Institution

1. The military arm of the state is among the most powerful and influential

social institutions in almost all societies.

2. In the United States, the military is the largest single employer.

Approximately 2.4 million men and women serve in the U.S. military.

3. The Military as a Social Institution

a. The function of the military as a social institution is to defend the

A. Race and the Military

1. Desegregation of the armed forces is often credited with having

promoted more positive interracial relationships and increased awareness