Introduction to sociology / Economy / Mingyeong Kim

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Economy

 

1. Summary

  The economy is a national or regional system to meet material needs. The economy happens on a group basis. There are several theories in the economy

1) Capitalism

 Capitalism means the capital-dominated economic system for profit-seeking purposes. Capitalism operates by the interaction of five items: commodity, money, labor force, means of production, and production. Capitalists create profits in the following ways.

  <How Capitalists Make Profits>

 

(source : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Introduction_to_Sociology/Economy)

 

Capitalism depends on what is on the market and what is on demand and what is supplied. On the other hand, capitalism is criticized as unfair distribution. It argues that oligopoly can arise when the liberal law combines with private property. In addition, many socialists do not set the direction, and inconsistencies arise.

2) Socialism
 Socialism refers to the theory that public institutions support workers' ownership, means of production, and resource allocation. Socialists do not provide an equal opportunity for everyone to maximize their potential. There is also criticism of socialism, which states that socialism restricts civil society's freedom and is inefficient.

3) Economic measures
  There are several ways to measure economic activity. The first is GDP. GDP is the gross domestic product and a measure of the size of the economy. Next is the Gini coefficient, which is a measure of the statistical variance that indicates the income distribution of country residents.

 

2. What was interesting

  I think capitalism is simply a society that values money and runs by money. It was interesting, however, that capitalism was achieved not only by money, but also by goods, labor, means of production, and production. I also came to the concept of capitalism in that I can become a part of capitalist society ( labor or production) through achieving some skills.

3. Discussion

  I would like to hear from the capitalist society about the extent to which the government or the public sector can be regulated in order to prevent the excessive monopoly of the corporation from the market economy. In what way can a free economic activity be supported to achieve a balanced economic activity?