Globalization Final Exam SOC189

What does Marx argue about capitalism?

It allows the capitalist class to exploit the working class, leading to dehumanization.

How does World-System Theory view capitalism?

Rich countries exploit poor countries

What caused the Great Depression of 1929?

Overinflated shares, excessive bank loans, agricultural overproduction, panic selling, and rising interest rates.

What is Keynesian economics?

Government spending can stabilize the economy, mitigate downturns, and promote social justice

Policy:

1. Relief for the needy

2. Economic recovery

3. Financial reform

What did WWII lead to in the global economy?

U.S. hegemony, economic growth, UN, IMF, World Bank, and GATT (later WTO)

What economic shift did the 1970s oil crises cause?

A move from Keynesianism to Neoliberalism

What are core features of Neoliberalism?

Deregulation, privatization, reduced welfare spending, and free-market emphasis.

What was Fordist production?

Assembly line, vertical integration, large factories producing in-house.

What was the Keynesian welfare state?

Social programs like health insurance, pensions, social security, and unemployment insurance.

What is the Core/Periphery division of labor?

Core = manufactures; Periphery = raw materials & markets

What is deindustrialization?

Decline of manufacturing in advanced economies, replaced by services.

What drives economic globalization?

Trade, foreign direct investment, outsourcing/offshoring, and new technologies

What are Global Production Networks (GPNs)?

Systems where lead firms coordinate production across countries through suppliers, subcontractors, and institutions.

What are entry barriers? Give examples.

Factors that limit competition. High = auto manufacturing; Low = garment production.

Which region industrialized fastest in the Global South and why?

East Asia, due to development states, weak unions, and authoritarian policies.

Difference between wealth and income?

Wealth = assets (stocks, property); Income = wages from work.

What does the Gini Index measure?

Inequality (0 = perfect equality, 1 = perfect inequality).

What is the Kuznets Curve?

Inequality rises during industrialization, then falls as development matures.

What’s the difference between inequality and poverty?

Inequality = gap between rich and poor; Poverty = absolute deprivation ($1.90/day).

What has happened to global poverty since the 1980s?

Declined from 40% → 10%, especially in East Asia; still highest in Africa.

What is mobility?

The ability to move across social/economic classes, often measured across generations.

What does the Great Gatsby Curve show?

High inequality is linked with low mobility.

What are Jeffrey Sachs’ four development traps?

Conflict trap, natural resource trap, landlocked with bad neighbors, bad governance.

What is the Conflict Trap?

• The conflict trap is when countries are in conflict with other countries. 

• It is difficult to rebuild and get out of the cycle of poverty when they are in constant war.

What is the Natural Resource Trap?

• The natural resource trap is when a country is limiting their economic development due to excessive dependence on it’s natural resources.

• Due to the attention solely being on extracting natural resources, there is no focus on other methods on production. This can be detrimental to a country because if they run out of their natural resources, they will have absolute no means of generating income.

• Natural resource trap can also be when a country is constantly facing natural disasters. Constant damages to the land negatively affects the means of production within that country, and thus unable to generate wealth

What is the landlocked with bad neighbors Trap?

• A country is considered landlocked when it relies on its neighboring countries for access to resources or the coast. 

• If those neighboring countries are poor or unstable, then access to the global market is even more limited for the landlocked country, resulting in a state of poverty.

What is the bad governance Trap?

• A trap of bad governance in a small country is when there is bad policies or corruption that negatively affect the economy from advancing or completely destroy it. 

• Consistent issues that occur is unstable political structures, poor fiscal policies, limited resources, brain drain, and low productivity keeping the country in poverty.

What is the difference between sex and gender?

Sex = biological (male/female); Gender = socially constructed roles/expectations (man/woman).

What are the four primary dimensions of gender inequality?

1) Health & Survival, (2) Education Attainment, (3) Economic Participation, (4) Political Empowerment.

What does the “Second Shift” refer to?

Women working a paid job and then taking on unpaid house/family labor at home (Arlie Hochschild).

What are explanations for why gender norms persist?

Development, post-materialism, globalization, women’s rights movements, modernization, efficiency norms.

What are common explanations for the economic gender gap?

1) Objective criteria (skills/training), 2) Occupational segregation, 3) Compensating differentials (flexibility over pay), 4) Wage discrimination.

What are examples of system-, supply-, and demand-based explanations for low women’s political representation?

System = electoral quotas; Supply = fewer qualified candidates due to education/work barriers; Demand = traditional gender ideology

What are the main push factors for migration?

Poverty, low wages, lack of employment, displacement from globalization (e.g., NAFTA displacing Mexican farmers).

What are the main pull factors?

Demand for cheap labor in dangerous, low-paying jobs that domestic workers avoid (meatpacking, farmwork, construction).

How does globalization exploit migrant workers?

Trade agreements often exclude labor protections, leading to abuse, wage theft, trafficking, and unsafe conditions.

What is the Kafala or sponsorship system?

Workers’ immigration status is tied to their employer, limiting job mobility, rights, and ability to leave the country.

What international institutions protect migrant workers?

UN Convention (2003), ILO Conventions 97 & 143 — but most receiving countries (e.g., US, Gulf states) have not ratified.

What are the two main types of labor power?

Associational power (collective organizing like unions) and structural bargaining power (leverage from position in economy/skills).

What is the difference between nation, state, and nation-state?

State = political sovereignty; Nation = shared cultural identity; Nation-state = combined political and cultural identity

What is World Society (World Polity) Theory?

Nation-states exist within a global society that spreads institutions, norms, and cultural practices (e.g., education, democracy, food, media).

How do INGOs affect state sovereignty?

By limiting autonomy, imposing policy conditions (IMF loans), and fostering dependency

Why is the IMF criticized?

Enforces conditional loans, prioritizes elites, undermines sovereignty, worsens inequality, and creates dependency (e.g., shrimp farms in Bangladesh).

What is nationalism?

An ideology that asserts nations exist and have the right to govern themselves; creates imagined communities.

What dangers can extreme nationalism cause?

Exclusion of minorities, persecution, genocide (e.g., Armenian Genocide, Holocaust).

What is populism?

Ideology contrasting “the people” (morally good) vs. “the elite” (corrupt); can be left- or right-wing.

How is right-wing populism distinct from old fascism?

RWP (Right-wing populism) = ethno-nationalist, anti-immigration, anti-elite, but accepts democracy/capitalism; Fascism = racial hierarchy, genocidal, anti-democratic.

How does globalization fuel right-wing populism?

Outsourcing and cheap imports reduce demand for low-skilled labor in the North → workers demand protectionism and anti-immigration policies.

Why is soccer so globally popular?

It is highly accessible — minimal equipment required.

What are the economic impacts of hosting the World Cup?

Billions invested in airports, stadiums, transport, safety, but often causes debt and inequality (e.g., Brazil 2014 protests).

What is the Kafala system in Qatar?

Migrant workers tied legally to employers, leading to exploitation, wage theft, and abuse.

What human rights issues surrounded Qatar 2022?

Over 30,000 migrant laborers, unsafe conditions, deaths, confiscated passports, poor housing, unpaid wages.

How does the World Cup connect to globalization?

Ties into migration, capitalism, corruption (FIFA), nationalism, inequality, and commercialism.

How does nationalism play into the World Cup?

Nations express identity, pride, and resistance to globalization through soccer (“catch-up nationalism”).

Stagflation:

Persistent high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand in a country’s economy.

• Not able to produce the goods in order to keep a demand going

Lorenz curve:

• measures the inequality and how far away a country is from perfect equality. Is a reference line that indicates equality. - the departure from equality

Gini

refers to A’s share of the total (A+B)

GDP

•  total value of goods and services produced over a given time period

GDP PC

GDP divided by population size

GDP PC PPP

• (purchasing power parody) 

Hegemony

• The political, economic, ideological, or cultural power of one group (country) over others. 

Economic globalization

•  is a set of ongoing processes that are economic in nature

Fragmentation of Production:

• When different stages of production are divided among different suppliers, often located in different countries

GPN:

The network of “non equity” relationships between firms that perform various tasks through all stages of production 

What are the GPN’s two essential characteristics?

1.  Embeddedness

• The production process is embedded within relationships between firms 

• Networks are coordinated by “lead” firms, typically headquartered in core countries

• Lead forms  set terms for quantity, quality, price, timing, design, etc.

Supplying firms are “subordinate” to lead firms, to varying degrees

2. Governance

• Two main dilemmas that drive network formation

• Make or buy: what activities remain within the formal boundaries of the lead firm?

• Location: where to locate activities lead friends externalize? 

What is the IMF?

• International Monetary Fund 

  • Major financial agency of the UN 

  • Funded by 190 member countries 

  • The global lender of last resort to national govt

  • Leading supporter of exchange-rate stability 

What is WTO?

World trade organization

• Regulates international trade between participating countries

• Signed by 123 nation on 15 april 1994

• Replaced the general agreement on tariffs and trade (GATT)

• Negotiates trade agreements 

• Has a dispute resolution process