Economic Systems & the Labor Market: Crash Course Sociology #29

This week we’ll see how economies can be broken down into the primary, secondary, and tertiary sectors. We’ll look at the three stages of economic revolution that brought us to the modern post-industrial era. We’ll also explore two types of economic models: capitalism and socialism.

CC Sociology course textbook: Sociology by John J. Macionis, 15th edition (2014)

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[zachpackard]

"Owned by the government" is incredibly deceptive. It's only socialism if the means of production are owned by the people, which means government ownership is only socialism if the people control the government

[pezpeculiar]

Socialism does not necessarily mean government ownership or involvement. Libertarian socialism, democratic socialism, and other related versions of socialism aim for more decentralized political and economic systems, and democracy in the workplace. Collective ownership can take numerous forms.

Marxism-Leninism was the prominent ideology in 20th century socialist one-party states, but generalizing its features to all forms of socialism doesn't make sense, particularly as modern forms of socialism tend to be far more concerned with anti-authoritarianism as much as economic injustice.

[roxy]

I'm an engineer trying to get into a Ph.D. program for Sociology. Besides taking some online courses to boost my resume, I have learnt SO MUCH from this crash course. All the major terms, contributors, theories, data, everything. I'm so grateful for the efforts you guys are making. Supporting this channel like crazy! Thanks a LOT ❤

[mullac]

"The government owns everything"... that's... that's Public ownership, not Collectivism! Collectivism is when workers directly own and control the means of production - such as being able to elect a company's managers.

[ErikratKhandnalie]

I just want *one* crash course series to correctly define socialism. Please. Marx had little to say about state-ownership of the means of production. He was about *worker* control of the means of production. Please, look up a few lectures by Richard Wolff, he does a beautiful job of explaining this. Please, you're supposed to be an academic channel. Do your research on this subject. You're a great channel, lots of great series, but it's like you go out of your way to be adamantly wrong on this *one* issue, every single time it comes up. Learn the socialist side of the story instead of taking the capitalist narrative as unquestionable fact. You don't have to change your whole worldview, but at the very least understand us on our own terms, as we have been made to understand you on your terms.

[peybak]

If you're poor, you can squint and see the Invisible Hand giving you the finger.

[Mitsunosai]

I feel like it should be mentioned that this didn't exactly portray Adam Smith's ideas in context. Yes, he believed that markets could do a lot of good, but he also argued that just as there was an invisible hand there would be a necessary visible hand, and the states that Adam Smith used as an example would have been closer to aristocratic family-owned corporations than to any kind of democracy. He abhorred monopolies and wrote against them more than once.

The episode also entirely left off hybrid economies which the Crash Course Economics team repeatedly made a point of demonstrating as the dominant form of functional economies today including most of the top richest countries in the world.

Normally this series is on point with fair criticisms on both sides but I hope we will be touching back on this. While it does show the dominant western view on economics, this does not reflect an accurate historic view or do the usual break down of other modes of thoughts, and criticisms of different approaches.

[thenorup]

This was too US centrist in my opinion. Europe has a very different system, and in my country we have 69%(Yes, not a joke) membership of unions.

[GDMiller]

So we're going to ignore the role of war, neo/colonialism, and economic sanctions on the failure of socialist economies? Okay... not saying things would have been rosey, but there were concerted efforts throughout the Cold War era to ensure the demise of any country and economy that put forward a socialist focus.

[FreeTheDonbas]

6:55 – editing mistake. You just see the animation, but the words don't fully materialise.

[kataponder]

I just want to say I love your lipstick shade and how it perfectly matches your shirt. :D That is all, you may proceed.

[mayankdeep]

As soon as she started talking about socialism and capitalism. I knew that she is going to wrongly define socialism. I knew it was going to happen.

[imofage]

That throw away comment about the decline of unions is extremely disingenuous. The decline of unions in America has very little to do with economic forces. It's mostly due to lobbying efforts paid for by corporations and political corruption.

[Nieosoba]

Great video, as always! One note, what about last 3 episodes? Socialist countries were much less developed countries or even just stopped beeing colonies. They were much poorer etc. but please don't pretend that comparison between capitalism and socialism make any sense... IT is like compering who will have a better chance to create big company son of a multibilionere or daughter of poor worker. Both can do it but it it is not just a questions of abilities, comparison of socialism and capitalism is of course possibile but global ineqalities are key factor here.

[saaraav]

Perfect timing! I'm studying economic sociology for my intro to social sciences course right now :)

[vathek]

If you've pissed off the market fundamentalists and the communists, you've probably presented a fairly balanced video.

[raginganalyst]

The real question is, as long as poverty is being dealt with, why is wealth inequality even an issue?

[EtrielDevyt]

Counterrevolutionary. Ten years gulag.

[EzrazWorld]

CrashCourse, you accidentally wrote "& AND" in the thumbnail!

[FreeTheDonbas]

You're comparing imperialist countries with socialist ones. If you compare regular non-imperialist capitalist countries with socialist ones, the socialist ones outperform them.