Social Dynamics Social Change

Stephen Dinkel
Politics and the Economy
Intro to Sociology
Politics and the economy go pretty much hand in hand. The President in most cases can have a big effect on how the much the market goes up or the market goes down. Congress has a big effect on the budget each year and therefore has a big effect on the economy.
This is, of course, a hugely important topic. Does development deliver democracy or does a transition to democracy foster development? This question, studied for years by both economists and potential scientists, is still hotly debated. In fact, several recent papers have addressed various aspect of it. Recent results by Persson and Tabellini suggest that previous papers underestimated the positive effects of democracy on growth.1 Aghion, Alesina, and Trebbi argue that democracy becomes especially useful to growth in more advanced sectors of the economy that need more freedom of innovation and flexibility, so the benefits of democracy are increasing with income per capita.2 An efficient democracy also needs education and human capital - otherwise, it may not survive, as discussed by Glaeser, Ponzetto, and Shleifer.3 But others (Acemoglu, Johnson, Robinson, and Yared) question the effects of education and per capita income as determinants of democratic institutions 4. The d democracies is emphasized in papers by Acemoglu, Ticchi, and Vindigni; Acemoglu and Robinson; and Besley and Persson.5 Further, Persson and Tabellini,6 using a concept of "democratic capital" that captures the solidity of democratic rule, have examined transitions in and out of democracy, and the stability of the latter. Indeed, some regimes are more stable then others and often the fate of dictators and democracies may be influenced by events as unpredictable as successful versus unsuccessful assassination of leaders, a point made by Jones and Olken7.

politics-economics.jpg

Perhaps at some deep level, cultural traits matter for economic choices and behavior, and they are profoundly different across nationalities. Political economists have just begun to investigate measurements of different cultures and their effects on politico-economic choices. Giuliano and I emphasize how different family structure affects many economic decisions, especially by measuring family ties, namely how tightly integrated families are. 8 Cultural traits may negatively affect incentives to grow, as argued by Tabellini .9 But where does culture come from? It may come from past experience; for instance Fuchs Schuendeln and I study the effects of Communism on preferences for state intervention in post-Communist societies .10 Culture evolves over time through transmission in families, a point made by Tabellini in a paper that examines the evolution of beliefs and trust .11 Washington studies how children may affect the political beliefs of their parents.12 Glaeser and Sacerdote study reversal of preferences in response to economic shocks.13
Cultural traits often are associated with ethnicity, language, and religion, and they evolve with history. Guiso, Sapienza, and Zingales study how cultural barriers may impede trade; Spolaore and Wacziarg explore how the diffusion of technology is facilitated by closeness, in terms of ethnicity, language, and culture; they find that it is.14 However, Giuliano, Spilimbergo, and Tonon argue that geographical features may be what really explain ethnic distance. 15 Ethnic conflict may cause policy failures, even state failure and wars, especially if political borders do not well serve ethnic groups and interests, a point investigated by Easterly, Matuszeski, and me . 16 Even within the United States, it is well known that racial and ethnic animosity affect policy choices and social capital. In an experiment based on the relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina, Fong and Luttmer find somewhat unexpected results.17
Politics has a direct effect on how the American economy does day to day. When certain bills are passed it can cause a big change in how people go about their business in the market. It is strange to think that politics can effect so many people in so many different ways.
http://www.nber.org/programs/pol/pol.html
members.cox.net/mathmistakes/poly-econ.htm


Jarrett Marker
Sociology
Population
In sociology, the study of population is demography. It is the study of human population dynamics. It researches the size, structure, and distributions of populations. It is the records of births, deaths, migration and aging. Not only is demography used in society but also in smaller more defined criteria such as education, religion, or ethnicity.
Populations can change so things like censuses are needed to perform a diagnostic of how many people are in a certain area to know what services are needed to supply that area for them to thrive. The political powers need to make sure of the populations growth and if there is overpopulation in one area. The need to keep track of things such as food availability because if an area is over populated, the food coming in and out of such said place won’t have a enough to supply the area.
In any case, many proponents of populationSchool-of-Sociology-and-Population-Studies-1.jpg control have confirmed is that famine is far from being the only problem with overpopulation. There are lower life expectancies, high birth rates, lower levels of education and little surplus food to name a few. Population can effect many things in the lives of people in society and plays a major role in how people will work to achieve sociological norms as declared by in a more contained and average populated area.
Movement has declined rapidly in the last forty years. Only one in every ten Americans move every year. Movement decreases as the populations ages due to the fact that older couples tend to stay in one place for longer.
There are also many environment effects from the movement of populations. There is such a thing as urban heat island, which is formed when the industrial and urban areas are developed and heat becomes more abundant.
Overall population has a huge impact on sociology and the way people live there lives.

http://school.cucas.edu.cn/HomePage/34/2010-12-24/page_5247.shtml


Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License