Incentives: The Roots and Core of Economics Economics is a social science that analyzes how society produces, distributes, and consumes its resources such as goods and services. The tools of economics can be easily applied to subjects of everyday life. According to Steven D. Levitt in his Freakonomics, economics at its root is essentially the study of incentives: something that induces people to act. Levitt illustrates that economic, and even social and moral decisions, are made by comparing the costs and benefits of incentives. Incentives are offered to people in order to induce them to make certain choices or behave in a certain way.
Weber’s concept of rationalization refers to the “disenchantment” of the world-the displacement of “magical elements of thought”by ideas which “gain in systematic coherence and naturalistic consistency”. Rationalization should be interpreted, in the broader sense as the intensification of means-oriented reason in social and technical organization as well as action/thought Formal rationality of economic action…used to designate the extent of quantitative calculation or account which is technically possible and which is actually applied” and substantive rationality involving the degree to twhich the provisioning of given groups of persons…with goods is shaped by economically oriented social action udner some criterion (past, present or potential) of ultimate values regardless of the nature of these ends. “the maximum of formal rationality in capital accounting is possible only wehre workers are ubjected to domination by enrepreneurs” Weber asserts that his “is a futher specific element of substantive irrationality in the modern economic order’ Domination: the situation in which the manifested will (command) of the ruler or rulers is meant to influence the conduct of one or more others (the ruled) and actually does influence it in such a way that their conduct to a socially relevant degree
There are three distinct characteristics that allow us to recognize the difference from modernity; changes in capitalism, changes in the consumer society, and the rise of a global society. There are many ways in which society in modernity can be separated from society at present in postmodernity. In modernity reason was based on the foundations upwards, whereas in postmodernity there are multiple factors and multiple levels of reasoning, almost wed-orientated. In modernity science was viewed as the universal optimism, whereas in postmodern times science was seen as a realism of limitations. Lastly, in modernity language was referential; which contrasts with the view in postmodernity that language has a meaning in social contexts through its usage.
The first sociological perspective, structural factualism, was established by Auguste Comte. Comte discussed the stages that societal knowledge must surpass, with significance on logical reasoning, as well as society as a structure and how it is composed of many parts (Murray, 2011). Herbert Spencer compared the structure of society to a human body due to the contribution of the many organs it takes to sustain life. Max Weber, one of the symbolic interactionists introduced the approach that society is a product of individual interactions (Murray, 2011). Central conflict theorist Karl Marx asserted that society is not a harmonious system, but riddled with unfairness, conflict and disorder.
In addition, government has to implement both policies effectively and set a direction which will lead to an effective interaction of different policies. Through the basic fiscal and monetary policy concepts, this paper will describe why the government policies should be discretionary and how the government should utilize both policies interactively to maximize economic growth in the economic crisis. 2. Should government policies be active or passive? 2-1.
Consumption drives our society, and as we already experienced, it has taken over our modern living in economies. I will argue that consumerism has taken control over how we live our lives. This is in comparison to early evidence of society. Our ability to be responsible consumers is ever so present, however we continue to feed the industries and companies who lure us into consuming products that are unnecessary to our everyday living. I will critically analyse the arguments of both sides of this topic in constructing a basis for the control that consumption has over our global economy.
Ads target the intangible needs and ambitions of their audience and offer fulfillment through products. I believe Marxist theorists would argue that advertisements cause Americans to become preoccupied in their quest for status through consumerism, creating a dependence on products. This dependence serves capitalist interests while preventing the working class from rising up against the dominant groups (companies). The postmodern variation of the critical tradition is often associated with “cultural
Moral Codes and other mistakes. In this paper I argue for what has been termed ‘moral progress’(Rorty 915-27), and against fixed moral codes. By ‘moral progress’ I mean that humanity, as time has passed has come to be increasingly aware of the iniquities of past societies (and, in many cases, ‘present’ societies) and has striven to understand how morality can change to accommodate this understanding. Bertrand Russell, in his book "Human Society in Ethics and Politics", makes the point that moral codes are often dictated by those in positions of power (Russell 38-43). "Right and wrong" are defined with relation to the powerful.
Basic Premises MODERNITY - Modernity came into being with the Renaissance. Modernity implies “the progressive economic and administrative rationalization and differentiation of the social world” (Sarup 1993). In essence, this term emerged in the context of the development of the capitalist state. Anthropologists have been working towards studying modern times, but have now gone past that. The fundamental act of modernity is to question the foundations of past knowledge.
Over the course of history, the debate between free trade and fair trade has become more complicated with the continual immersing of the global economy. Proponents of free trade believe that through a system of voluntary exchange, the demands of justice are met while proponents of fair trade argue that exchanges between developed nations and lesser developed nations occur under uneven terms and should be made more equitable. This paper will go over some of the history of free trade and fair trade as well as covering the status quo of this controversy along with the various terminologies being used in the debate. Before there was free trade, there was a policy called mercantilism which developed in Europe in the 16th century. Since then, early economists such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo opposed the idea and advocated free trade because they believed free trade was the reason why certain civilizations prospered economically (Cooper, 2000).