Social Studies skills: Difference between revisions

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==Standards/ Standardization==
==Standards/ Standardization==
=== standard meaning ===
* '''standard''' (noun) =
** a baseline rule or line of common agreement
*** i.e., what a society agrees upon as commonly expected
** etymology (word origin):
*** from Old French ''estandard''for  fpr "to stand hard", as in fixed
*** derived from Latin ''extendere" for "to extend" and applied to an "upright pole"
*** applied to a flag, a "standard" represents an army or people
* '''standardize''' (verb)
** means to make in common or in common agreement
** '''standardization''' (noun) = in the state of being standardized; action of creating common agreement


=== Money ===
=== purpose of standardization ===
* standards are a key element of creating rule, sovereignty and/or unity
** especially across large distances
** when a people agree upon something, it is "standard"
* forms of standardization include:0
** language, laws, money, religion, social customs, weights and measures, writing
* effects of standardization include:
** economic activity (trade), social and political organization, unity
** rule, power, especially in the sense of enforcing standards
* the below will review these different forms and purposes of standards and standardization
 
=== law ===
=== money ===
* “Money can be anything that the parties agree is tradable” (Wikipedia)
notes to do:
notes to do:
* money & trade
** trade =
*** geography
*** movement
*** scarcity/surplus
*** technology
*** technological and cultural diffusion


Money & trade
==== history of money ====
 
* “I understand the history of money. When I get some, it's soon history.”
trade = geography
* money must be:
movement
** '''scarce'''
scarcity/surplus
*** too much money reduces its value
technology
*** inflation results from oversupply of money
technological and cultural diffusion
*** or corruption or devaluation of money
*** see Latin expression: ''void ab initio''
 
**** = fraud from the beginning taints everything the follows
History of money
** '''transportable'''
 
*** ex. Micronesians used a currency of large limestone coins...9-12ft diameter, several tons... put them outside the houses.. great prestige... but they weren’t transportable, so tokens were created to represent them, or parts of them... Tokens = promises
“I understand the history of money. When I get some, it's soon history.”
** '''authentic'''
What must money be?
*** not easily counterfeited (fraudulently copied)
 
** '''trusted'''
- Money must be scarce
*** government sanction
- Money must be transportable
** '''permanent'''
>>Micronesia currency of large limestone coins...9-12ft diameter, several tons... put them outside the houses.. great prestige... but they weren’t transportable, so tokens were created to represent them, or parts of them... Tokens = promises
*** problem with barter of plants and animals is perishability
- Money must be authentic
**** i.e., fruit and goats can be traded, but fruit goes bad and goats die
(not easily counterfeited)
* early non-coinage forms of money:
- Money must be trusted
** sea shells
>>government sanction
*** which are scarce (rare), authentic, visually attractive (pretty)
>>language/ writing
** cattle
- Money must be permanent
** crops/ herbs/ spices
(fruit and goats die...)
*** especially specialty crops, such as spices
problem with barter.. perishability
**** such as pepper, which is dried and therefore transportable and non-perishable
 
** gems, gold, rare minerals
“Money can be anything that the parties agree is tradable” (Wikipedia)
*** measured by weight
 
* modern period money forms:
Early monetary systems:
* during Age of Discovery (15th-17th centuries) rum became currency  
75,000 bc ... shells >>scarce and rare
* 18th century Virginia, tobacco became money
cattle
* in prisons or prisoner of war camps, cigarettes have become currency,
crops/ herbs/ spices... specialty crops >>see definitions above, what money must be)
=== history of Coinage===
Early civilization: spices = currency (crops, esp. pepper)
* starts with the “touchstone”
gems, gold, rare minerals
** = a stone that can be rubbed to measure its purity (trust, value)
Early Discovery Age: Rum became a currency (more stable than gold)
In prisons, cigarettes become currency
 
 
History of Coinage:
starts with the “Touchstone” ... touchstone...rub against it to measure purity (trust, value)
 
 
* ''void ab initio'' = fraud from the beginning taints everything the follows


>> to do:
Phoenicians: created currency
Phoenicians: created currency
Representative Money: paper money = coin value
Representative Money: paper money = coin value
Fiat money = back by a promise only
Fiat money = backed by a promise only
=== weights and measures ===
=== writing ===
> create new page for writing


==Culture and Cultural & Technological Achievements==
==Culture and Cultural & Technological Achievements==