ECONOMY

One of the social systems in the totality of social organization.

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.

1. Man’s economic activities greatly influence his habits, skills, knowledge, motivation, aspiration and ideology.

2. Man’s economic behavior affects the social norms, values and personal relationships within the society.

Economic developmento A means and an end of economic systemo Refers to the ever-increasing application of

rational, productive techniques throughout the whole economy.

Interrelation between man’s economic activity and his social behavior

o To understand man’s economic life, one has to consider the society and culture that influence it.

o To understand social organization, we must analyze the society’s various economic considerations and contexts.

Sociology of Economyo Studies the social relations of production,

processing, distribution and consumption of the material goods and the influence of economic institutions on social organizations and social change.

Social Structure of Economyo Agrarian economy – agriculture dominateso Industrial economy – manufacturing, trade and

commerce and services dominateo Subsistence economy – the family is the center

of economic activities; and simultaneously the production, processing, and distribution unit; the family provides for most of its needs; system of exchange is barter

o Mechanized economy – employ toe the large extent and degree, mechanized power for the production, processing and distribution of economic good; i.e. factories, units of

transportation and communication, arkets and stores, banks, media

o Under-developed economy – a great part of the natural and human resources are virtually untapped

o Highly developed economy - a high degree of mechanization, industrialization, urbanization, automation and a high level of living exists

o Capitalism – enables a person, through free enterprise, to keep the products of his efforts to himself with a minimum of state control.

o Communism – every person, through governmental collective ownership and control of facilities for production, processing, distribution and consumption, shares equally in the goods produced by the society.

The Social Subsystems of Economy Property – the network of “rights and duties of

one person or group as against all other persons and groups with respect to some scarce goods.”o Tenure, acquisition and distribution of

ownership and control of property depend greatly on the existing social norms and value orientation of people toward it. [non-rational and rational orientation]- Private property – comparatively free

from direct state controls and is generally transferred from the owners to their duly designated heirs.

- Public property – subject to governmental restraints and is placed under the control of the different social subsystems of the government.

o Single proprietorship – more common type of ownership wherein the owners are the managers.

Technology – consists not only of machines equipment and tools, but also of the fund of knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to convert available resources, into objects that men need and want.

Division of Labor – represents the differentiation of functions, institutional and economic roles – performed by the individual members and small groups of the society.

Organization of Work – concerned with the application of sociological principle to the study of economic structures, changes in these structures and the values and ideologies related to them.