CHAPTER TWELVE THE ECONOMY WORK AND WORKING Pre Colonial United States Hunting and Gathering Horticultural Society earliest form of economy pre 16th century Native American societies had to be highly mobile for food and weather conditions division of labor revolved around survival men hunted animals and or foraged for plant sources of food women children and elderly cooked sewed and did other tasks at the campsite were based on the domestication of animals farming and generating surplus of resources of workers farmers craftspeople and traders were necessary to the economy had more permanent settlements and greater diversification of labor because different types The Agricultural Revolution agricultural revolution the social and economic changes including population increases that followed from the domestication of plants and animals and the gradually increasing efficiency of food production better farming ranching techniques allowed for larger groups to thrive and remain in one place for longer periods of time lasted for many centuries 18th century food production greatly increased by new innovations in farming an animal husbandry and selective breeding for large plantation owners to accumulate wealth from cotton or sugar cane crops they had to have dependence on cheap plentiful labor as tenant farmers or sharecroppers white men owners of land and small businesses white women household managers division of labor fell on race gender and class lines plantation workers black slaves from Africa poor white people had either small farms worked new types of plows mechanized seed spreaders new techniques of crop rotation irrigation The Industrial Revolution industrial revolution the rapid transformation of social life resulting from the technological and economic developments that began with the assembly line steam power and urbanization began in England 1769 soon spread to the United States with more mechanized machinery American economy moved from manual labor to machine manufacturing by the end of 1800s modern corporation emerged which could manage a range of activities across geographic regions successful one manufactured products and also managed all aspects of marketing and distribution shift to manufacturing economy saw migration of people from rural areas to cities for work housing and poverty industrial economy increased stratification of workforce along class race and gender lines influx of immigrants from Europe provided a steady source of cheap exploitable labor densely populated neighborhoods sprang up to accommodate masses creating substandard no longer worked as artisans or craftsman factory work replacement of wage labor for subsistence model with this production became more mechanized and more routine driven workers were dissatisfied because they never got to see finished product and were frustrated wealthy white families owned means of production men were in the workforce earning family wage women ran the household middle class of educated skilled workers emerged in managerial professions for families needing more than one income women and children joined the workforce poor women immigrant women and women of color performed domestic labor in white women s households also worked at factory jobs reserved for women industrial economy revolved around mass production of goods aided by use of assembly line with unsafe exhausting working conditions changed lives of workers as well life expectancy and decreased infant mortality generation people had access to dependable food and water sources and some form of health care workforce was becoming better trained and more educated than that of any previous population booms because of immigration and discoveries in science and medicine increasing new forms of communication and travel knowledge worker those who work primarily with information and who create value in the American companies find it more profitable to move production overseas to exploit cheaper aka Digital Revolution Digital Age or Postindustrial Age has become part of everyday life in 21st century The Information Revolution information revolution the recent social revolution made possible by the development of the microchip in the 1970s which brought about vast improvements in the ability to manage information brought profound shift in economy based on production of knowledge and services materials and labor in developing countries 12 supersectors economy through ideas judgments analyses designs or innovations clients customers or consumers rather than manufacturing goods without benefits health care and or retirement knowledge workers wholesaling and retailing restaurant business message therapy has a focus on serving and interacting with people much service employment is unstable part time or temporary low paying and service workers those whose work involves providing a service to businesses or individual women persons of color and poor are likely to be found in service sector unemployment reates for service sector workers are substantially higher than for information and knowledge is the raw material and the product of their labor Microsoft owners make profits and so can accumulate wealth Capitalism capitalism an economic system based on the laws of free market competition privatization of the means of production and production for profit with an emphasis on supply and demand as a means to set prices in pure form values for goods and services are derived by market relationship between supply and demand resources for production of goods and services are privately owned and owners must employ workers to make products and perform services to generate a profit workers sell labor to capitalists for wage difference between cost of production of a product or service and its price is profit to which the capitalist is entitled capitalism encourages class stratification ideologies of free market private property and profit seeking motives that define capitalism also shape institutions other than the economy workers must sell their labor to capitalists for a wage encouraged to be productive and efficient or they ll suffer reduced wages decreased social welfare services health insurance and retirement downsizing and layoffs workers used to be able to strike for better wages and situations but now under transnational capitalist system firms experiencing strikes may decide to move their operations overseas to countries where workers can hold fewer strikes capitalist economy
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