Key Concepts: Society, Politics, and Economics Defined
Key Concepts: Society, Politics, and Economics
- Information Society: A post-industrial model of society extending from the Internet and electronic technologies, where knowledge is the critical value. It expands the model of globalization.
- Nation-State: A political organization where a country agrees to a unit of government.
- Patriarchy: A family, social, cultural, and political system characterized by male domination and preponderance, evident in both private and public spheres.
- Network State: A political organization connected to, influencing, and being influenced by other states.
- Xenophobia: Fear of strangers or foreigners.
- Racism: A form of discrimination based on race, skin tone, or other physical characteristics, where some groups are considered superior to others.
- Antiglobalization: A wide range of social movements comprised of activists from different political currents. In the late twentieth century, they converged in social criticism of neoliberalism and the globalization of capitalism. They argue this process benefits large multinational corporations and rich countries, emphasizing precarious work conditions, consolidating an unjust and unsustainable economic development model, and undermining the democratic capacity of states.
- Values: Preferences and goods used to ensure ethical and fair conduct.
Secularization is the social process in which religion loses its relevance or influence, and secular values and criteria become more prominent. For example, the approval of gay marriage can be seen as a result of the increasing secularization of Spanish law.
- Sovereign State: A political regime where a country independently decides key issues (constitution, political regime, monarchy or republic, territorial organization: autonomy or not). It is an independent state. In globalized societies, sovereignty is heavily influenced by others.
- Neoliberalism: One of the names used to describe an economic ideology, also referred to as corporate capitalism, corporate globalization, globalization, or even a suicide economy. This ideology is the policy that currently dominates the global economy.
- Capitalism: A political, social, and economic context in which a few large companies and wealthy individuals control property, including capital assets.
- Globalization: A process of economic, technological, social, and cultural integration on a global scale, characterized by growing communication and interdependence among countries, uniting their markets, societies, and cultures through social, economic, and political policies.
- Politics: The interest and ability to organize social projects, resulting from lawsuits and social demands. It aims to recreate democracy, enabling citizens to participate in public life.
- Social Exclusion: Situations in which individuals or groups cannot exercise their fundamental rights or face serious inequalities.
- Nationalized Bank: A bank that becomes public property of the state.
- Economic Policy of Austerity: Cost control measures implemented during times of crisis.
- Totalitarianism: A political regime that exerts strong control over all spheres of national life, concentrating all state powers in the hands of a small group or party. These are dictatorships (military, economic, communist).
- Political Ecology: On the economic front, political ecology exposes our tendency to collective suicide and proposes a return to overall balance between nature and culture. In the social and cultural spheres, feminism opposes the contradictions of a world still dominated by men. In politics, the novel idea goes beyond majority rule, emphasizing respect for minorities and recognition.
- Feminism: An ideology and a set of political, cultural, and economic movements aimed at achieving equal rights for women and men.
- Logic of the Market: The functioning of the economy and society, governed and organized by the law of supply and demand. For example, in the logic of the market, when many university engineers seek employment and labor supply exceeds demand, salaries will decrease.