soci 2265 ch 7: global labour market inequality

economic system

the way a society organizes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. it determines what gets produced, who its produced and who gets what

what shapes an economic system?

culutral values and ideologies, political structure, historical development, technology and resources, global influences, social strucutres

global labour market inequality

refers to the unequal distribution of work opportunities, wages, working conditions, and job security across different countries, regions, and social groups in the global economy

countries

workers in the global south often receive much lower wages and the weaker labour protections than those in the global north, even when doing similar or more demanding work

social groups

within countries, women, migrants, racial minorities, and workers from lower socio-economic backgrounds tend to face discriminaiton, lower pay, and less secure employment

types of employment: informal economy

workers from the global south without contracts, benefits, or legal protections

types of employment: formal, regulated employment

workers from the global north with contracts, benefits, and legal protections

global stratification

refers to the unequal distribution of resources, wealth, power and opportunities between coutnries and within them.

gdi/gdp

represents the total income of a country divided by its populationand overve differences between wealthy and poor nations

gini coefficient

measures internal inequality, lower gini scores mean more equal income distribution, higher scores indicate greater inequality

3 domains of social exclusion

1. resources - material and economic, access to services and social resources

2. participation - economic, social, education and political participation

3. quality of life - health and well-being, the environment in which you live and crime levels in the are in which you live

factors that determine social class

income, wealth, occupation, education, social status

hdi

compares levels of human development across countries

3 dimensions of hdi

health, education, standard of living

core countries

highly industrialized and economically dominant

peripheral countries

less developed and exploited for their resources

semi peripheral countries

countries that possess both core and periphery countries

jean-jacque rousseau

wrote “a discourse of inequality”

a discourse of inequality: natural inequality

differences from physical or mental attributes (strength, intellingence, health)

a discourse of inequality: moral or political inequality

inequalities created by human conventions (wealth, power, privilege)

conflict theory

inequality arisses from power struggles between dominant and subordinate groups

functionalism

inequality is seen as a necessary mechanism to ensoure societsl stability and efficiency

symbolic interactionism

inequality is reproduced through social interactions and the meanings individuals attatch to their social postions

feminism

inequality is rooted in patriarchal systems that privilege men over women and other genders

karl marx

power is rooted between economic relations and the control of resources between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat

max weber

power is derived from class, status, and political party and individuals compete for these aspects