soc 100 chapter 9 - global inequality

Globalization

The development of social and economic relationships stretching worldwide

• in current times, we are all influenced by organizations and social networks located thousands of miles away

• a key part of the study of this is the emergence of a world system— for some purposes, we need to regard the word as forming a single social order.

Impacts of globalization

• has produced 2,668 billionaires (out of 7.7 billion people)

• the richest 1% of the world has more wealth than the remaining 99%

• leads to exploitation when people try to maximize profits and outsource manufacturing

Global inequality

the systemic differences in wealth and power between countries.

GNI

gross national income, a commonly used measure based on total income, a commonly used measure based on total income, a commonly used measure based on total income earned as a result of a country’s yearly output of goods and services, including income earned abroad.

• the world bank uses GNI to classify countries as either high, upper-middle, lower-middle, or low income.

middle-income countries

• most middle-income countries began to industrialize later in the twentieth sentury than high-income countries.

• They are primarily found in East and Southeast Asia and include the oil-rich countries of the Middle East and North Africa.

• Middle-income countries house 75% of the world’s population but accounted for only 36% of the output produced in 2018

low-income countries

• low-income countries house 9% of the world’s population but just 0.1% of the world’s GNI

• low-income countries have mostly agricultural economies, and some are just beginning to industrialize.

• the inequality between average annual income in high-income and low-income countries is increasing, due in part to differences in population growth.

• Large families are more likely to be a cultural norm in low-income countries because children can be an economic asset.

is global economic well-being improving?

• the number of high-income countries has grown by 28% (between 1999-2021)

• the number of upper-middle-income countries has grown by 14% in that period.

• the number of low-income countries is decreasing as countries move into middle-and-higher income categories

• economic success in China and India accounts for much of the upward movement.

absolute poverty

a state of poverty in which one lacks the minimal requirements necessary to sustain a healthy existence

relative poverty

poverty defined according to the living standards of the majority in any given society.

Capabilities Approach

an approach to economic development that uses social indicators to emphasize the degree to which people are capable of achieving a life they value, given the opportunities they face.

Neoliberalism

the economic belief that free-market forces, achieved by minimizing government restrictions on business, provide the only route to economic growth.

• By the mid-twentieth century, countries recognized that when left unregulated, markets could favor the rich and powerful, lead to recurring economic crises, and produce a widening gap between rich and poor.

• the united states later pushed neoliberalism again in an attempt to reduce communism in poor countries

Modernization theory

a version of neoliberal development theory that argues that low-income societies develop theory that argues that low-income societies develop economically only if they give up their traditional ways and adopt modern economic institutions, technologies, and cultural values that emphasize savings and productive investment.

Dependency theories

marxist theories of economic development that argue that the poverty of low-income countries stems directly from their exploitation by wealthy countries and by the corporations that are based in wealthy countries.

core countries

according to world-systems theory, the most advanced industrial countries, which take the lion’s share of profits in the world economic system.

peripheral countries

according to world-systems theory, countries that have a marginal role in the world economy and are thus dependent on the core countries for their trading relationships.

colonialism

the process whereby western nations established their rule in parts of the world away from their home territories.

dependent development

the theory that poor countries can still develop economically, but only in ways shaped by their reliance on the wealthier countries.

global commodity chains

worldwide networks of labor and production processes that extend from raw materials to the final consumer

• The commodity chain approach emphasizes the increasingly globalized nature of production, as corporations based in high-income countries now outsource most of their manufacturing to

semiperipheral countries

according to world-systems theory, countries that supply sources of labor and raw materials to the core countries and the world economy while at the same time profiting by extracting labor and raw materials from peripheral countries, but are not themselves fully industrialized societies.

world-systems theory

pioneered by Immanuel Wallerstein, this theory emphasizes the interconnections among countries based on the expansion of a capitalist world economy.

Global capitalism

the current transnational phase of capitalism, characterized by global markets, production, and finance; a transnational capitalist class whose business concerns are global rather than national; and transnational systems of governance (such as the World Trade Organization) that promote global business interests

Transnational capitalist class

a social class whose economic interests are global rather than national, who share a globalizing perspective and similar lifestyles, and who see themselves as cosmopolitan citizens of the world.

Research on Global Inequality

• Wealth and poverty make life different in many ways.

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that up to 828 million, roughly 1 in 9 people in the world, suffer from hunger.

• The majority of the hungry live in the Global South.

• More than half are in Asia and the Pacific and approximately one-quarter are in sub-Saharan Africa.

• Almost all of the hungry are illiterate, with no access to primary school education.

Health

• People in high-income countries are far healthier than their counterparts in low-income countries, where the health facilities, sanitation, water, and food supplies are inadequate.

• Low-income countries have higher child mortality rates and lower life expectancy (average of 63 years).

• In our highly globalized world, communicable diseases can easily cross borders, as seen in the Ebola epidemic and coronavirus pandemic

Hunger and Malnutrition

• Today, many people are on the brink of starvation; most are in the Global South.

• While the number of chronically undernourished people had declined to 572 million in 2014, the number has increased by 300 million people.

• Most hunger today is the result of a combination of natural and social forces, such as severe weather (which will worsen as a result of global climate change) and conflict.

• The HIV/AIDS epidemic has contributed to food shortages by killing many working-age adults

Education and Literacy

• High-income countries can afford to spend more on education than low-income countries, resulting in more literate adults.

• Education contributes to economic growth by creating the skilled workforce necessary for high-wage industries.

• Education can help people escape the cycle of harsh working conditions and poverty, depending on job availability.

• Education usually leads to people having fewer children, which slows the population growth that contributes to global poverty