anarchism: a philosophical and political tradition advocating the abolition of all or most forms of hierarchy, including the state.

assembly line: a way for employers to increase economic efficiency by breaking the production process down to a series of small actions performed repetitively by workers, first utilized by Ford factories.

calling: a Christian concept for work that is assigned to a person by God and that provides meaning and purpose to a person’s life.

capitalism: a type of economic and social system in which private businesses or corporations compete for profit, in which goods, services and many beings are defined as private property and in which people sell their labor on the market for a wage.

class conflict: the structural antagonisms built into economic relationships.

Doughnut Economics: an economic model that balances between essential human needs and planetary boundaries.

economy: a system for the production, distribution, and consumption of the goods and services within a society.

general strike: a strike of all workers within a society, not just the workers at one workplace or in one industry. A powerful tool for the working class.

Gross National Happiness –  a philosophy that guides the government of Bhutan. It includes an index which is used to measure the collective happiness and well-being of a population.

historical materialism—Marx’s theory of class conflict’s essentialism to the economy in how it causes social change and creates a new economic system to push progress forward.

Karl Marx—German philosopher famous for co-authoring The Communist Manifesto (1848) and is the father of Marxism.

localization: a process of decentralization—shifting economic activity into the hands of millions of small- and medium-sized businesses instead of concentrating it in mega-corporations.

materialism: social theory perspective that emphasizes the economy in explaining just about everything in society.

Max Weber—German sociologist and co-author of The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx, who focused more on the cultural beliefs in capitalism’s emergence.

neoliberalism:  an economic and political ideology emphasizing individual liberty and minimal government role in the economy.

Protestant ethic—a set of cultural and religious beliefs theorized by Weber which laid the groundwork for the rise of capitalism in modern western society.

socialism: an economic system in which the means of production are collectively owned, usually by the government.

strike:  a form of collective action when workers in a given workplace refuse to work until owners meet their demands.

The Capitalocene: the geological epoch in which capitalism has reordered Earth’s natural systems.

The New Deal: a series of government interventions under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency to strengthen the economy during the Great Depression, focused on rapidly increasing the number of government employees, and hired workers to build roads, bridges and other public works.

union: an organization of workers who work together to improve their wages and working conditions.