Sunday 19 April 2009

Inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level leading to a fall in the purchasing power or value of money.The greatest falls in the value of money came during the mid-late 1970s and then in 1980s.
Inflation reduces the value of money. When prices are increasing, then the value of money falls.

Deflation
Price deflation is when the rate of inflation becomes negative. I.e. the general price level is falling and the value of money is increasing. Some countries have experienced deflation in recent years – good examples include Japan and China. In Japan, the root cause of deflation was slow economic growth and a high level of spare capacity in many industries that was driving prices lower. In China, economic growth has been rapid – but the huge amount of capital investment and rising productivity has led to economies of scale being exploited and a fall in production costs.

The main causes of inflation

Inflation can come from several sources: Some come direct from the domestic economy, for example the decisions of the major utility companies providing electricity or gas or water on their prices for the year ahead, or the pricing strategies of the leading food retailers based on the strength of demand and competitive pressure in their markets. A rise in government VAT would also be a cause of increased domestic inflation because it increases a firm’s production costs.

Inflation can also come from external sources, for example an unexpected rise in the price of crude oil or other imported commodities, foodstuffs and beverages. Fluctuations in the exchange rate can also affect inflation – for example a fall in the value of sterling might cause higher import prices – which feeds through directly into the consumer price index.

Saturday 18 April 2009

Over the past 200-300years, British society has changed dramatically in terms of the way it is organized.Economically, politically and culturally. The simplest way of expressing the extent of this change is to think in terms of the Industrial Revolution- the process whereby the major form of economic production changed from being predominantly agriculture which is based around the farming of land, to being predominantly industrial ( which is based on application of machinery to the production process.
Industrialisation , when the production process became mechanization at the result economic production still be increase.
Urbanisation when was a population movement away from small-scale a agricultural, settlements to large-scale communities based upon town and cities . It is a change in social relationships as they apply to economic production, follows the family as an institution must also have experienced various changed.
Parsons builds up an eleborate model of systems and subsystems, each system must meet four functional prerequisities. Four basic requirements hat must be fulfille, these are adaptation,goal attainment, integration and latency or pattern -maintenance. The social world can be potentially organized to raise the living stndard of everyone in society.
Kinship systems establish relationship between parents and children, between siblings, and between marital partners.Most kinship systems do operate to establish rights in the sexual, reproductive, economic and domestic services of women.
Geographic mobility from the workforce when people had mobile to find ana keep work in the new industrial processes.

Sunday 12 April 2009

a)Expressive role is the role that women are take care after the childdren,house work,give emotional support and create home comfort.
b)Unpaid domestic Labour, emotional support for the whole family.
c) Rising standards of livin;improvements in economic and education levels of families, helped to promote health; decrease mortality.
d)Philippe AriƩs supported the idea of childhood being a social construction using historical documents and paintings. These documents and paintings illustrated what it was like for children, who were part of a wealthier family. He believed that there was little distinction between the clothes worn by adults and children, and this also lead to similar activities being undertaken. Whereas now, it can be argued that childhood has been extended legally and is now, more of an age of innocence. Rather than adulthood.
When he began his research he found that, childhood was a very new concept. It did not exist at all in the Medieval period. But, on his argument, childhood did not really penetrate the great masses of the lower and lower-middle classes until very late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In the Medieval world ayoung person of 7 years old was already an adult. His points were apprentice, became workers in the fields and later after the industrial revolution in the factory, and generally entered fully in to the adult society ata very early age. On Aries' view, once itstitution of childhood began to emerge the situation of the young person began to change in society. Children were to be protected from adult reality. The facts of birth, death, sex, tragedy, world events were hidden from the child.
Bilton et al 1981 In some cultures the contribution made by the children is necessary for the economic survival of the family
Giddens believed that, democratisation allowing privatelife of the family to mirror the public with the assistance of media. Children are now given many more rights in order for protetion as well as equal opportunities.
Lowrence Stone suggsts that with the awareness that behaviour depended on discipline, parentstook their duty as disciplinarians more seriously. He claims that whipping and flogging now became common place in an attempt to instill morality in their children.
Sather argues that following the Reformation, the relationship between parents an dchildren became characterised by harshness and cruelty, as physical punishment became the norm, especially amongst Puritans.
e)Murdock’s traditional definition (adults of both sexes, at least two of whom maintain a socially approved sexual relationship, with one or more children of the sexually cohabiting adults) gives a higher % than a wider definition (such as a social unit made up of people who support each other socially, economically, psychologically, or sexually) since the latter would then include childless couples, unmarried couples with children (including step-children) and same sex couples.
Giddens (1994) established beyond doubt that these ‘golden age’ references were very much based on a myth, but they are embedded in many people’s thinking (including advertisers) and account for a good number of the moral panics that regularly feature in the media (particularly the tabloids) and their condemnation of lone parents, absent fathers, single sex unions – and even divorce and cohabitation.
Young and Willmott in the 1950s/1960s, much stress has been put on the idea of the ‘development’ of the nuclear family – through increases in the number of ‘symmetrical families’ where conjugal roles are shared, to more recent (e.g. Chester, 1985) arguments that the traditional nuclear family may not be the norm in terms of composition, but remains the norm in terms of the key positive functions it fulfils, despite the increase in family flexibility through cohabitation, remarriage, etc. This is quite a clever way of arguing it, because you have the traditional functionalist defence of the nuclear family, with its functions performed in a much broader variety of contexts.

Thursday 2 April 2009

"Owners of capital will stimulate working class to buy more and more of
expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more
expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will
lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and State
will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism."

Karl Marx, 1867

Sunday 22 March 2009

New Labour’s Educational Policy since 1997
A new study by members and associates of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics has surveyed the evidence on the impact of policies towards poverty, inequality and social exclusion since the Labour Government was elected in 1997. The study suggests that the Government has taken poverty and social exclusion very seriously, marking a clear distinction from recent previous administrations. A wide range of the problems faced by Britain in the mid-1990s has been recognised, as has their multi-faceted and inter-linked nature. Poverty and social exclusion have been the subject of some of the Government’s most high-profile targets, particularly to cut and eventually 'eradicate' child poverty. Also to ensure since 10-20 years and no one is seriously disadvantaged by where they live. However, there are no targets for working-age poverty, for poverty of the population as a whole, or for overall inequality. There are vulnerable groups not covered by specific initiatives and in the case of asylum seekers, government policy has increased exclusion (in the terms applied to other groups). Where initiatives have been specifically evaluated the effects have mostly been positive, although not always very large. Child poverty has been reduced by the Labour Government’s tax and benefit reforms, and detailed analysis of family spending patterns suggests that the income changes for parents with children are having clear benefits. Overall, the impact of tax-benefit reform has been more progressive than an alternative policy of earnings-inking all benefit levels without reform would have been. But there are groups that have been left out. While poverty rates fell overall, those for working-age adults without children had reached record levels by 2002-03.
Its policy have been focused on education on a global market, view education and training as crucial for economic success. Schools have been encouraged to specialize in particular subjects. The aim has been to increase choice, encourage competition, raise standards and allow schools specialisms.
In 1997 New Labour inherited 196 specialist schools from the Conservatives. Ten years later there were about 2500 schools - it is about 80 per cent of all secondary schools in England.
Work-related learning. They continued commitment to the aim of improving the skills of the workforce in order for Britain to remain competitive in the global marketplace. The raising of the minimum age of full-time education (18), more options in providing vocational and education and training.
Competition and choice have continued to improve educational standards. New Labour has tried to increase opportunities. Also they have aim to increase the numbers in the high education .(not only upper and middle class but also and working class)
The changes in higher education reflect the overall pattern of their policies on education-opportunities have increased for everybody, but class inequalities remain stubbornly present.
Unemployment
Unemployment, people who are not in work but available to work, people who are looking for work, but claiming benefit-jobseekers allowance. There are different types of unemployment and it depends on the situation at the goods market.
Frictional unemployment-when a worker moves from one job to another. While he searches for a job he is experiencing frictional unemployment. This is a productive part of the economy, increasing both the worker's long term welfare and economic efficiency. It is a result of imperfect information in the labour market, because if job seekers knew that they would be employed for a particular job vacancy, almost no time would be lost in getting a new job, eliminating this form of unemployment.
Structural unemployment is caused by a mismatch between jobs offered by employers and potential workers. This may pertain to geographical location, skills, and many other factors. If such a mismatch exists, frictional unemployment is likely to be more significant as well.
Seasonal unemployment occurs when an occupation is not in demand at certain seasons.
Cycle unemployment Cyclical or Keynesian unemployment, also known as demand deficient unemployment, occurs when there is not enough aggregate demand in the economy. This is caused by a business cycle recession, and wages not falling to meet the equilibrium rate.
Government pay benefit for people who unemployment but for the part of time while person find work.
Supply -Side Policy
Supply-side policy is increase Aggregate Supply (AS) by improving the efficiency of labour and product markets. Supply -side policy always aim to increase AS, they never designed to reduce AS. And they should to increase real GDP, reduce unemployment, reduce inflation.
If Long-Run Aggregate Supply shift to the right the productive capacity of the economy has increased.
Example: Increase Quantity of Labour supply - introduce a minimum wage to encourage people to work, reduce income tax, reduce jobseekers allowance. OR education and training lead to increase productivity that is mean to increase quality of labour. Also to improve productivity of capital- it can be help to invest and develop new technology , eg give to firms some subsidy . Privatisation - increase efficiency in the allocation and utilisation of resources and also a major factor to cut down borrow by the government. Deregulation - to remove rules to make easier for companies to enter markets and become more efficient.