Social Studies 1201/02

This unit provides students with a thorough introduction to the forces which influence the marketplace. This understanding is essential knowledge as virtually all discussion related to economics assume this understanding as a prerequisite.

Specifically, in this unit students examine 

• the forces of demand and supply

• how the actions of consumers and produces are influenced by elasticity.

 The topic of elasticity is of particular importance as it connects economics with the idea of citizenship, power and privilege. For example, students will consider scenarios where they explore the dilemmas faced by one who is economically underprivileged and is impacted by a change in price. Although such dilemmas are faced by a minority of Canadian citizens, that still translates into millions of people. This discussion returns to the ideal of a “just society“ raise earlier in the course.