The Economy and Work

The Economy and Work

Economy is one of the social systems in the totality of social organization. It refers to the structuring and functioning of the development and utilization of human and natural resources in the production, processing, distribution and consumption of material goods and services.

Sociology of the Economy

Property refers to the network of rights and duties of one person as against all other persons and groups with respect to some scarce goods.

Technology consists of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to convert available resources into objects people need or want.

Division of labor represents the differentiation of functions performed by the individual member and small groups of the society.

Organization of work is concerned with the application of sociological principles to the study of economic structures, changes in these structures and the values and ideologies related to them. It includes organizational problems such as workers’ morale, productivity, absenteeism and turnover rates.

Types of Economic Systems

Capitalism is an economic system that focuses on the right to own private property, to invest it as capital in productive enterprises and to obtain profits from each investment.

Socialism is based on a set of political theories that espouses the collective ownership of the means of production and distribution of goods.

Communism is a social, political, and economic system whereby property is publicly owned.

Functions of the Economy

Provides physical subsistence necessary for group survival in a society.

Generates social changes for the continuity of society.

Maintains a balance with the other social systems and its social subsystems in the production, processing, distribution and consumption of economic goods and services.

Indicates the nature of social stratification in the society, social class and mobility differences.