Key Economic and Social Concepts Explained
Key Economic and Social Concepts
1. Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit. Supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are determined mainly by private decisions in the free market, rather than by the state through central economic planning. Profit is distributed to owners who invest in businesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by businesses.
2. Productivity
Productivity is the amount of output per unit of input (labor, equipment, and capital). There are many different ways of measuring productivity. For example, in a factory, productivity might be measured based on the number of hours it takes to produce a good, while in the service sector, productivity might be measured based on the revenue generated by an employee divided by their salary.
3. Rolling
In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through a pair of rolls.
4. Explosion Engine
An Explosion Engine is a heat engine in which combustion occurs inside the engine rather than in a separate furnace; heat expands a gas that either moves a piston or turns a gas turbine.
5. Anonymous Societies or S.A.
Anonymous Societies or S.A. generally designates corporations in countries employing the civil law. Though literally translated as “anonymous society” or “Share Company”, it is known more commonly in English as a public limited company, which is the one permitted to offer its shares to the public.
6. Taylorism
Taylorism is a production efficiency methodology that breaks every action, job, or task into small and simple segments which can be easily analyzed and taught. Introduced in the early 20th century, Taylorism aims to achieve maximum job fragmentation to minimize skill requirements and job learning time.
7. Fordism
Fordism is a manufacturing philosophy that aims to achieve higher productivity by standardizing the output, using conveyor assembly lines, and breaking the work into small, de-skilled tasks. Whereas Taylorism (on which Fordism is based) seeks machine and worker efficiency, Fordism seeks to combine them as one unit and emphasizes minimization of costs instead of maximization of profit.
8. Estate
An Estate is a social group in the structure of the “Ancien Régime” whose members belong to it by birth.
9. Class
A Class is a social group in the structure of a modern industrial society whose members share the same economic conditions and common interests.
10. Proletariat
In Marxist theory, the proletariat is the class of a capitalist society that does not have ownership of the means of production and whose only means of subsistence is to sell their labor power for a wage or salary.
11. Trade Union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English) is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions and to defend their common interest before the employers. This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing, and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety, and policies.
12. Means and Ways of Production
Means of production refers to physical, nonhuman inputs used in production — the factories, machines, and tools used to produce wealth. They include two broad categories of objects: instruments of labor (tools, factories, infrastructure, etc.) and subjects of labor (natural resources and raw materials). Labor acting on the means of production creates a product. The ways of production are the relations established around the means of production: the workers are employed in exchange for a salary.
13. Magnicide
Magnicide is the assassination of an important person, such as a President, Prime Minister, King, or heir.
14. Nihilism
Nihilism (from the Latin nihil, nothing) is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of the meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.