social institutions questions/tasks: why does the economic social structure called ''middlemen'' form? will middlemen continue to exist? is it "good" pr "bad" that artists can reach audiences directly? the situation gillespe, nick (2000, august/september). cutting out the middlemen. reasononline. reason magazine. available at http://www.reason.com/0008/ed.ng.cutting.html on february 26, 2008. perman, stacy (2006, september, 7) how artists can skip the offline middleman. business week. 19. available in ebscohost at http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true & db=bth & an=22891247 & site=ehost-live on february 26, 2008. hints these articles describing the situation show that it''s easier than ever for artists to reach audiences directly (in effect to artists are able to "cut out" the middleman). click on cartoons to view some cartoons depicting the effects of cutting out the middleman. available at http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/c/ cut_out_the_middle_man.asp on september 5, 2008 in module 1, you encountered several approaches to understanding sociological phenomena. in particular, you learned about a "structure-functionalist" and a "conflict" approaches. this case gives you another opportunity to use that approach. submit your 2-3 page paper to coursenet. required resources: normally, use of wikipedia is not recommended as a resource. the resources chosen for soc201 are chapters in a wikibook, chapters that have reached book status, because they have been thoroughly vetted. author unknown (2008). introduction to sociology. wikibooks. available at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/introduction_to_sociology on july 23, 2008. in terms of making sure that you understand ‘what middleman are’ and ‘why middlemen are used?’ you should, at a minimum, review the following: sociological theory – available at http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/ introduction_to_sociology/sociological_theory on september 5, 2008 review (if you have already examined this reading, which was included in the optional readings for module 1) economic institutions - – available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/economics on september 5, 2008 economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. author unknown (2008) introduction to marketing. knowthis.com. the following chapter was available at http://www.knowthis.com/tutorials/ principles-of-marketing.htm on february 21, 2008. in particular examine the following: middlemen as institutions in the us economy – available at http://www.knowthis.com/tutorials/ principles-of-marketing/distribution-decisions.htm on september 5, 2008 a marketing channel of distribution is a group of individuals and organizations that directs the flow of products to customers; also called distribution channel. in most channels of distribution, producers and consumers are linked to each other through a marketing intermediary. a marketing intermediary is a middleman linking producers to other middlemen or ultimate consumers through contractual arrangements or through the purchase and resale of products. in terms of the two major types of intermediaries in the manufacturer to consumer channel, retailers purchase products and resell them to ultimate consumers, and wholesalers buy and resell products to other wholesalers, retailers, and/or organizational customers. the major role of marketing channels is to make products available at the right time, at the right place, in the right amounts. optional resources click on optional resources to access information on how organizations are expected to change. ongoing useful resources click on ongoing useful resources for some resources that are used throughout the course. these resources include links to: instructions on finding and referencing information, instructions on accessing information in the tui university and touroc elibraries a meta-meta-site that ranks metasites in terms of the usefulness of their links to additional sites and topics covered in soc201. quick links to resources on case5 gillespe, nick (2000, august/september). cutting out the middlemen. reasononline. reason magazine. available at http://www.reason.com/0008/ed.ng.cutting.html on february 26, 2008. perman, stacy (2006, september, 7) how artists can skip the offline middleman. business week. 19. available in ebscohost at http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true & db=bth & AN=22891247 & site=ehost-live on February 26, 2008.