SA 150: Global Inequalities

globalization

increasing spread of culture, commodities, capital, and people across national boundaries (global village)

examples of how we live in a global village

* international communication is easy and cheap
* tourism increased
* internet access

3 drivers of globalization

* Technology
* politics
* economics

global south

regions characterized as low income, with greater inequality, and often politically unstable

global north

regions characterized as wealthier, with less inequality, and often politically stable

human development index

statistical tool used to measure and rank countries of social and economic development

3 measures of Human development index

1. life expectancy
2. human capital
3. standard of living

global commodity chain

* worldwide “network of labour” and production process
* end result is a finished product or good

nike as a commodity chain

* moved abroad to manufacture shoes in low income countries
* capitalizing on low labour costs, few worker/environmental protections
* cheap and easy to create goods

transitional corporations

* rely on foreign labour and production
* increasingly emphasizes skills and advances in design, tech, and management
* depends on world markets and mass advertising
* freedom from national gov.

traditional corporations

* rely on domestic labour and production
* extracts natural resources
* sell to domestic markets
* rely on marketing and sales outlets
* work under or with gov. control

McDonaldization

* process when fast food chains dominate more sectors of American society and the rest of the world
* efficiency, calculability, and predictably spread to all of life
* negative social impacts →race to the bottom
* ie. disenfranchised other jobs and replaced them with interchangeable, unskilled workers

characteristics of good jobs

* benefits
* Permanent, full time positions
* safe environment/working protections
* regular working hours

characteristics of bad jobs

* low wages
* few benefits
* no long term security
* unsafe work environment/limited worker protections

McDonaldization beyond fast food

* multinational corporations control large amounts of wealth
* society in which citizens are secondary to corporations in issues like labour, health care, education, etc.
* state serves the economy rather than its citizens
* creates regulations that benefit corps. and maximizes profit

modernization theory (functionalist approach)

* proposes society evolves and prospers through differentiation and co-operation
* market forces are at the center
* suppose all societies modernized in more or less the same way
* result is that we all agree on a uniform, set of beliefs and activities (assisted by technologies)
* operation of market force as free, impersonal market based of supply and demand as key to modernization, industrialization and prosperity

neoliberalism

idea that state should only intervener minimally in the economy since market force can maintain alone

modernity

* era where everything “new” is valued


* associated with rationalism, capitalism, etc.

dependancy theory (conflict theory approach)

* colonialism & newly industrialized countries
* investments have positive outcomes for rich countries but negative ones for the poor
* extracts materials from poor countries to make opportunity for the rich

colonialism

political-economic phenomenon where European nations explored, conquered, settled, and exploited diverse regions of the world

newly industrialized countries

* countries who have growing economies


* lie between developed and developing nations

state response to global inequality

wealthier, more powerful states reduce global inequality by providing services and benefits to poorer societies

global environmental racism

* occurs when minority groups, developing countries, and POC bear the brunt of the nations pollution
* hazardous waste is dumped in areas occupied by POC

environmental bads

* air pollutants
* chemical exposure
* hazardous working environments

environmental goods

* fresh food
* public transit
* portable water

global manifestation on environmental inequality

* industrialized nations have increasing amounts of hazardous chemical waste
* majority of waste is originally from industrialized nations
* described as both economically efficient and toxic colonialism