France Seconde Economic and Social Sciences
Chapters: 2
1. Key questions
How economists, sociologists and political scientists work · How wealth is created and measured · How market prices are formed · How we become social actors (socialisation) · How political life is organised · Qualifications, jobs and wages
- Social Science Methods: How We Study People and Society – Social scientists study people and society the way scientists study nature: ask a clear question, collect evidence (sources, surveys, interviews, observation, statistics, maps), analyse it, check for bias, and draw careful conclusions. Economics, sociology and political science ask different questions but share these tools.
- National Income Aggregates: GDP, GNP, NDP, NNP, Real GDP and Welfare – Start with GDP at market price: value of all final goods and services made inside the country in a year. Subtract depreciation to go from Gross to Net. Add net factor income from abroad (NFIA) to go from Domestic to National. Subtract net indirect taxes (indirect taxes − subsidies) to go from Market Price to Factor Cost. NNP at factor cost is National Income. Nominal GDP uses current prices; real GDP uses base-year prices; GDP deflator = nominal ÷ real × 100. A higher GDP need not mean more welfare because of unequal distribution, non-monetary exchanges and externalities.
- Demand, Supply and Market Equilibrium – The law of demand says buyers want less when the price rises; the law of supply says sellers offer more. The market price settles at equilibrium, where quantity demanded equals quantity supplied, and shifts in demand or supply move it. Some goods break the usual laws (Giffen, Veblen, panic buying). A price ceiling set below equilibrium causes shortages. Markets can also fail, for example with pollution or public goods like street lights, so the government steps in.
- Culture and Socialisation: How We Learn to Live Together – Culture is the whole way of life that a group learns and shares: its ideas, rules and things. It is learned, not born with us. Culture has three sides: cognitive (what we know and believe), normative (rules for how to behave) and material (tools and objects). Socialisation is the lifelong process by which a baby becomes a member of society by learning this culture. It happens through agencies: family, peer group, school, mass media, and others like work, religion and community.
- Political Systems: How Societies Govern Themselves – A political system is the way a society makes and enforces decisions for everyone. Political scientists separate the state (lasting organisation with territory and people), the regime (the rules of who holds power and how) and the government (the people in charge now). Regimes range from democracies, where citizens choose and remove leaders, to authoritarian systems, where a few hold power without real accountability. Power becomes authority when people accept it as rightful (legitimacy), which can rest on tradition, charisma or legal-rational rules. Systems change through reform, revolution or democratisation; stability depends on legitimacy, performance and institutions.
- The Labour Market – The labour market is where workers sell their time and skills and employers buy them. Firms demand labour because people buy their products (derived demand). Workers supply labour, and more people offer work at higher wages. The wage settles where demand meets supply. A minimum wage above that level can raise pay but may cut jobs. Trade unions, a single big employer (monopsony), skills, discrimination and new technology all change wages and jobs.
2. Quantitative skills
Proportions, percentages, rates of change, indices · Mean, median, tables and graphs
- Percentages – Per cent means "out of 100", so x% = x/100. To find x% of an amount, multiply by x/100. Percentage change = (change ÷ original) × 100. To increase by r%, multiply by (1 + r/100); to decrease by r%, multiply by (1 − r/100). Successive changes multiply their multipliers. For reverse percentage, divide the new value by the multiplier.
- Statistics: Asking Questions, Averages and Stacked Bar Graphs – Statistics starts with a question that has many possible answers. We collect data, organise it, show it in a graph, and find one number that sums it up. The mean is the fair share, the median is the middle value, and the mode is the most common value. A weighted average gives more importance to some values. Stacked and 100% stacked bar graphs show how a whole is split into parts.