Differences Between Competitive and Monopolistic Sectors

Explaining Market Mechanisms and Sales Effort

Task:

The position the author takes on the key question; ii. Your thesis; and iii. An explanation of how your essay will be organized. Your essay must have a clear paragraph structure, each starting with a clear topic sentence.

1. Explain the differences between the competitive sector and the monopolistic sector, in terms of market mechanisms and sales effort. What are the strategies used by monopoly
capital to stimulate effective demand? Provide a definition of planned obsolescence and its social consequences.

Topic 1: For above question

When explaining the differences between the competitive and monopolistic sectors in terms of market mechanisms and sales effort, make sure you explain how the sales effort develops out of the latter sector.  Discuss the strategies used to stimulate demand in terms of that sales effort.  Define planned obsolescence as part of those strategies and explain how such a strategy leads to particular social consequences.

For example, for Topic 1, some students are arguing why a competitive market economy is more effective than a monopolistic market (this is 'evaluation').  That is not what the topic question asks you to do.  Instead, the focus of the essay is actually on explaining monopolistic markets (in contrast to competitive markets), how the sales effort and various strategies to increase consumption developed out of it, and planned obsolescence as an example of one of those strategies which has certain social consequences.