global inequality
Globalization & Global Stratification
Course Information
Professor: Collins Ifeonu, PhD
Department: Sociology & Anthropology
Institution: Simon Fraser University
Date: November 20, 2025
Brown v. Board of Education
Definition: Landmark U.S. Supreme Court case declaring that racial segregation in public schools violated the Equal Protection Clause.
Historical Context: Overturned the precedent established by Plessy v. Ferguson’s doctrine of "separate but equal".
Court's Findings: Segregated schools were found to undermine the educational and social development of Black children.
Significance: Celebrated as a symbol of victory of the Civil Rights Movement and acted as a catalyst for nationwide desegregation efforts.
Implementation Issues: Encountered massive resistance; desegregation proceeded slowly through decades of subsequent litigation.
Derrick Bell and Interest Convergence
Key Figure: Derrick Bell
Contribution: Foundational figure in Critical Race Studies.
Critique of BvBOE: Bell argued that the Brown decision should not be viewed as a moral landmark; instead, it was driven by a temporary alignment of Black civil rights interests with White elite interests.
Concept: Interest Convergence - The idea that social progress for minorities occurs when it aligns with the interests of the majority.
Three Converging Interests Leading to Brown
Advancing Canada’s Cold War objectives to improve the U.S. image internationally.
Preventing domestic unrest from Black WWII veterans who felt discrimination was an affront to their service.
Facilitating economic and political modernization in the South, reliant on an economy historically built on slave labor.
Key Point: Gains for minorities can be reversed if they threaten the interests of the majority.
Canada and International Students
Self-interest: Canada’s management of international students aligns with broad nation-building goals.
Conditions for Benefit:
Improvement in the quality of educational experiences.
Serves Canada’s economic or political interests (short or long-term).
Immediate financial return from international students (McCartney, 2021, 38).
Globalization
Definition: A worldwide exchange of money, goods, services, and cultural practices among people, regions, and institutions, characterized by increased interrelation and dependence across nations.
Components: Rapid movement of commodities, culture, and technology.
Historical Context of Globalization
Existence of an international trading economy over 700 years ago, primarily focused on military expenditure.
16th-century capitalism emergence in Western Europe marked a shift from feudalism to market-based economy, leading to:
Commercial enterprises replacing agricultural production.
Private land ownership pushing out farmers and inducing a fundamental shift in land use.
Expansion of the merchant class and a subsequent increase in demand for goods resulting in colonization and slavery practices in the Americas, Africa, and Asia.
The Influence of Globalization
Anthony Giddens (2003): Identified globalization as comprising an increase in transnational social relations and emphasized the interconnectivity of local and global events.
Events do not occur in isolation; local events relate to global unfolding.
Glocalization
Definition: A combination of "globalization" and "localization" that asserts local contexts significantly shape global affairs.
Reciprocal Relationship: Global and local affairs can influence each other, sometimes resulting in conflicting goals (Robertson, 1992).
Global Stratification
Definitions
Global South: Regions characterized as low-income, with greater inequality and often political instability.
Global North: Wealthier regions with less inequality and political stability.
Global Stratification: Positioning countries in a hierarchical global ranking system.
Key Drivers of Globalization and Stratification
Trade
Flows of goods: Includes raw materials, food, energy, and other products transported via various modes (vehicles, air, water); ports serve as critical hubs.
Migration
Flows of people: Permanent, temporary, and migrant workers, alongside travelers; airports act as significant points of connection.
Telecommunications
Flows of information: Involves communication and data exchange through diverse systems (postal, internet, telephone).
Global cities emerge as information hubs.
Other Drivers
Political Change
Technology
International Diplomacy
Transnational Corporations (TNCs)
Definition: Large companies based in one country with operational branches in two or more countries.
Influence: TNCs leverage their size and economic power to circumvent labor and environmental regulations in Global South nations.
Impact: They press suppliers for lower prices and can dictate terms to meet their entrepreneurial needs.
Flexible Production
Example: iPhone Component Sourcing
Germany: Accelerometer
China: Battery
Japan: Camera, Compass, LCD Screen
Switzerland: Gyroscope
U.S.A: Glass screen, Wi-Fi chip, Audio chips
Key Insight: Apple designs iPhones while depending on various countries for component manufacturing, particularly assembled in Taiwanese-owned factories such as Foxconn and Pegatron.
Neoliberal Globalization and the Role of Governments
Argument: Scholars contend that national governments have diminished regulatory roles compared to TNCs.
State Responsibility: The state is seen as prioritizing economic goals over citizen welfare by creating incentives for corporations.
TNCs increasingly play critical roles in shaping policies, often promoting development and innovation.
Economic Impact of TNCs
Market Value Comparisons
Apple's Market Value: $2,252,300,000,000
Microsoft's Market Value: $1,966,600,000,000
Illustrates how TNCs can surpass entire nation-state economies, indicating the immense economic power they wield.
Many countries have GDPs less than the market value of major TNCs.
Benefits and Challenges of TNCs in Developing Countries
Positive Elements: TNCs can provide jobs and improve living standards in poorer nations; alignment with national goals can yield ethical advancements.
Challenges: Profit maximization is often prioritized over ethical responsibilities and corporate social responsibility can hinge on profitability, leading to exploitation of labor and environmental regulations.
Example of exploitation: The community in Argentina suffering from lead exposure as a consequence of Shell's operations while health care providers were compromised.
Racial Capitalism
Definition: Concept articulated by Robinson in 1983 suggesting that the success of capitalism is predicated on the racialized subjugation of labor, establishing racial and economic disparities as integral components of capitalism.
Key Points:
Capitalism relies on inequality, and racialization enshrines this inequality, creating a symbiotic relationship.
Racial forms of exploitation reproduce and sustain capitalism through mechanisms like slavery, colonial extraction, and precarious labor conditions.
Racialized notions of work shape perceptions of who is skilled or unskilled, impacting social mobility and labor market segmentation.
Asian Immigration and Exclusion Policies
Historical Context (1867-1920)
Period marked by the establishment of exclusionary immigration policies that reflected racial biases against Asian populations, deemed as threats to societal norms and demographics.
Head Tax Policy: Introduced to restrict Chinese immigration, starting at $50 in 1885, rising to $500 by 1903, resulting in a demographic imbalance creating “bachelor societies.”
Continuous Journey Regulation (1908)
Prohibited immigrants from landing unless they arrived from their country of origin without stops, explicitly targeting Indians and Japanese.
The Evolution of Racial Capitalism
Impact on Global Inequality
Racial capitalism fosters a system where wealth is concentrated in regions that historically have exploited racialized labor and colonies.
Global stratification through trade regimes, aid, and immigration perpetuates hierarchies, keeping labor in the Global South both cheap and mobile.
Colonialism and Neocolonialism
Colonialism: Encompasses the domination and exploitation of populations to expand territories and resources.
Neocolonialism: Practices carrying the same exploitative intent as colonialism, implemented through financial, political, and cultural pressures despite the pretense of independence (Nkrumah, 1965).
Global Economic Theories
Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth (Functionalist Perspective)
Emphasizes a linear developmental model from traditional societies to post-industrial states via free-market policies and technological advancements.
Stages Identified:
Traditional Society
Preconditions for Take-Off
Take-Off
Drive to Maturity
High Mass Consumption
Dependency Theory (Conflict Perspective)
Proponent: Andre Gunther Frank (1969) argued that capitalism produces underdevelopment in the Global South.
Emphasizes the co-existence of development and underdevelopment, stemming from colonial ties and resource extraction.
Claims that former colonies must sever ties with the Global North for genuine development.
Critiques: Overemphasis on external factors and neglect of the agency of dependent nations, alongside a failure to consider cultural and political influences.
World-Systems Theory
Concept: Developed by Wallerstein (1974); capitalism as a stratified world system with a division of labor creating exploitative relations between core and peripheral countries.
Highlights how labor and resources flow from weaker countries to benefit the powerful core.
Summary of Global Stratification Dynamics
Global capitalism is characterized by the interdependence of unequal power dynamics, where historical exploitation and contemporary neoliberal policies sustain disparities.
The strategies employed in modernization often mirror colonial legacies, underlining the need to analyze global relations critically to address inequities and promote sustainable development.