SOC 302 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Barter, Georg Simmel, Profit Maximization
Document Summary
Capitalism: an economic system in which property and goods are primarily privately owned; investments are determined by private decisions; and prices, production and the distribution of goods are determined primarily by competition in an unfettered marketplace. Capitalism as a whole started to develop along with the agricultural and industrial revolution in europe. Feudalism: a precapitalist economic system characterized by the presence of lords, vassals, serfs and fiefs. The lord was a nobleman who owned land. The vassal was granted the land, termed a fief, by the lord. The fief remained the property of the lord, but the vassal reap the harvest. Serfs, who were of peasant origin, formed the lowest class in feudal society. Serfs were bound to the land and required to give the lord a portion of their production. Serfs differed from slaves because they could own property and were not sold. During the tudor period in england, some of the open fields were enclosed .
