18.1 Economic Systems

By the end of this section, you should be able to:

  • Differentiate types of economic systems and their historical development
  • Describe capitalism and socialism both in theory and in practice
  • Discuss the ways functionalists, conflict theorists, and symbolic interactionists view the economy and work
This figure consists of two images. The photo on the right is of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, one of the founders of Russian communism. The image on the right is a photo of J.P. Morgan, one of the most influential capitalists in the United States. In figure (b), a photograph of J.P. Morgan is shown.
Figure 18.2 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was one of the founders of Russian communism. J.P. Morgan was one of the most influential capitalists in history. They have very different views on how economies should be run. (Credit: Photos (a) and (b) Wikimedia Commons)

The dominant economic systems of the modern era are capitalism and socialism, and there have been many variations of each system across the globe. Countries have switched systems as their rulers and economic fortunes have changed. For example, Russia has been transitioning to a market-based economy since the fall of communism in that region of the world. Vietnam, where the economy was devastated by the Vietnam War, restructured to a state-run economy in response, and more recently has been moving toward a socialist-style market economy. In the past, other economic systems reflected the societies that formed them. Many of these earlier systems lasted centuries. These changes in economies raise many questions for sociologists. What are these older economic systems? How did they develop? Why did they fade away? What are the similarities and differences between older economic systems and modern ones?

This lesson has no exercises.
Next lesson

The content of this course has been taken from the free Sociology textbook by Openstax