ACCT 2000 Chapter : Income Tax
SOCL 3601
1/20/2012
3 Major Perspectives
• 1. Structuralist—Functionalism
o Looks at structure of society
• 2. Conflict Theory
o Karl Marx
▪ Socialist; political activist
▪ Economic determinism—the economic system determines the shape and form
of society
▪ Economic system is the most important part of society
▪ Historical materialism—a major social change happens when one system is
overthrown and a new one comes into place
▪ Feudalism—1500s-1600s
• 1700s—gone
• Power is not based on a strong centralized government
• It is based on land ownership
• In many cases, there wasn’t any government
• Had to make own army
• Everything they needed was grown
• Very little in terms of trade
• 12th-13th century
o People lived in little towns and trade commerce more
important
• A few centuries later—congress and manufacturing of good—
capitalism
o A person’s class position is related to the means of
production
o Bourgeoisie—owners of means of production
▪ Owned big businesses
o Proletarial—wage workers; work for others
o Has it’s own seeds of destruction
▪ Bourgeoisie can only make money if they make a
profit
▪ Paying workers less than what they worked
o If someone can sell cheaper, you go out of business—
competition
o Bourgeoisie exploit workers
▪ Workers overthrow bourgeoisie and take over
means of production
▪ Now, they will get the full profit of their labor
• Nobles became wealthy
• Most were servants/slaves bound to the land by law
o They were given small portion of land
▪ All economic systems have one thing in common: handful of individuals
become wealthy not through their labor but others
▪ Agri workers—low pay
▪ Some depended on slavery
o Focuses on competition of power and control of resources
o Brings some social change
Document Summary
Structuralist functionalism: looks at structure of society, 2. Some depended on slavery: focuses on competition of power and control of resources, brings some social change. Symbolic interaction micro level view of society: george h. mead. Focuses on classes of people than the individuals: brain child, nothing gets done in society unless it"s done by individuals. Individuals and what they do with each other. Complex human societies are only possible through our ability to create and eliminate significant symbols shared need. Language is a quotified symbol: behaviorism late 1800s, we reflect on past and plan future. Talk about objects or people that aren"t in our presence. Looks at human behavior in terms of stimuli and response. Presented with some stimulus: nervous system send signals to our ear. Touching a hot object: rewards behaviors society approves, punishment society thinks inappropriate. It only takes occasional rewards to get us to continue good behavior: b. f. skinner, operant conditioning.
