SOC 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Conspicuous Consumption, Prosumer, Charismatic Authority

• School: Ryerson University
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 105
• Professor: Mustafa Koc

Document Summary

It is necessary for the survival of most people. The way in which work is presently organized can be questioned and transformed. The economy is the social institution that ensures the maintenance of society through the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Capitalism has become the dominant economic system around the world in the last 500 years. Capitalism: is an economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of production, from which personal profits can be derived through market competition. Capitalism emerged as a world economic system in the 16th century, first in the west and spread around the world during the following centuries. Private ownership of the means of production (land, tools, machinery, factories, buildings) Generalized commodity (any object that is exchanged in the marketplace) economy (including labour) Primary purpose of production is not subsistence (self sufficiency) but private gain (maximization of profit) Capitalist or the managerial agent controls the production process.