Global Stratification

Global Stratification Sociology, Tenth Edition

Changing Terminology • Old terminology • First world –industrialized rich countries • Second world –less industrial socialist countries • Third world –non-industrialized poor countries • Problems with old terminology • After cold war, second world no longer existed • 100 country third world too economically diverse to be meaningful Sociology, Tenth Edition

Changing Terminology • New terminology • High-income – richest forty nations with the highest standard of living • Middle-income – somewhat poorer nations with economic development typical for the world as a whole • Low-income – remaining sixty with lowest productivity and extensive poverty • The extent of global inequality is much greater than these comparisons suggest. Well-off people in rich countries live ‘worlds apart’ from the poorest people in low-income countries Sociology, Tenth Edition

High Income Countries • First to develop during industrial revolution two centuries ago • In the year 2000, includes some 900 million people • Enjoy over half the world’s income • More income means control of world’s financial markets • Control of financial markets means control of other countries • Examples • United States, Western Europe, Japan, Australia, Canada, etc. Sociology, Tenth Edition

Figure 12-1 Distribution of World Income Sociology, Tenth Edition

Middle IncomePer Capita Income Ranging From $2,500 to $10,000 • Limited industrialization • One-half of the people are rural and engage in agricultural activities • Life is difficult: • A general lack of good education, medical care, and safe water • One-third of all people live in middle-income countries • Examples • Russia, Eastern European countries, Latin America, and some African countries Sociology, Tenth Edition

Low Income • 60 nations in this category • About one-half the world’s people • Mostly poor, rural economies • Life expectancy is very short • Examples: • Africa, and much of Asia Sociology, Tenth Edition

The Severity of Poverty • The U.N.’S Human Development Report, 2001 found that • Norway had the highest “quality of life” rating (.939) • United States followed close behind (.934) • Sierra Leone had the lowest (.258) • One reason why quality of life differ so much is that lowest in countries like Sierra Leone is because economic productivity is low in the same countries that tend to have high population growth rates Sociology, Tenth Edition

The Severity of Poverty • Relative poverty • People lack resources that others take for granted • This sort of poverty exists in every society, rich or poor • Absolute poverty • A lack of resources that is life threatening • While some may exist in U.S. One-third or more of the people in low-income countries experience poverty at this level Sociology, Tenth Edition

EXTENT OF POVERTY • Is poverty life threatening? • In some African countries, half of the annual deaths occur in children under the age of 10 years • Every ten minutes, 300 people around the world die of hunger! • 40,000 persons a day; 15 million persons a year starve to death • In the world as a whole 15% or 1 billion people suffer from chronic hunger Sociology, Tenth Edition

Poverty & children • Poverty and children • 100 million children in poor countries are forced to work the streets (e.g., beg, steal, selling sex) • 100 million children have deserted their families and live off the streets • Public reaction to street children • U.S. House of representatives reports several hundred street children murdered in Rio de Janeiro each year • These “urban cleansing” campaigns are carried out by death squads • About half of all street children are in Latin America • 10,000 in Mexico City alone Sociology, Tenth Edition

Women, Slavery & Poverty • Women • In all societies, a woman’s work is unrecognized, undervalued, and underpaid • Workers in sweatshops are mostly women • Seventy percent of the world’s 1 billion people living near absolute poverty are women • Slavery • Chattel slavery – one person owns another • Child slavery – a more common form of bondage • Debt bondage – employers hold workers to pay for their debts • Servile forms of marriage – married against their will or forced into prostitution Sociology, Tenth Edition

Correlates of Global Poverty • Technology • One-quarter of the people in low-income countries use human or animal power to farm land • Population growth • Population for poor countries in africa doubles every twenty-five years • Cultural patterns • People resist innovations, accept slavery as a way of life • Social stratification • Low-income countries distribute wealth very unequally Sociology, Tenth Edition

Correlates of Global Poverty • Gender inequality • Raising living standards means improving women’s standing • Global power relationships • Colonialism –the process by which some nations enrich themselves through political and economic control of other nations • Neocolonialism – a “new” form of global power relationships that involves not direct political control but economic exploitation by multinational corporations • Multinational corporations – huge businesses that operate in many countries Sociology, Tenth Edition

Modernization TheoryThis Model of Economic Development Explains Global Inequality in Terms of Technological & Cultural Differences Between Societies • Historical perspective • As recently as several centuries ago the entire world was poor • Exploration, trade, and the industrial revolution transformed Western Europe then North America • Cultural perspective • Weber explains that the protestant reformation reshaped traditional Catholicism • The accumulation of wealth replaced kinship and community and fostered the rise of capitalism • Tradition and “cultural inertia” discourages people from adopting new technologies and rising living standards Sociology, Tenth Edition

W.W. Rostow’s Stages of Modernization • Traditional stage • Changing traditional views • Take-off stage • Use of talents and imaginations • Drive to technological maturity • Diversified economy takes over • High mass consumption • Mass production stimulates consumption Sociology, Tenth Edition

The Role of Rich Nations • Assisting in population control • Exporting birth control and educating people on its importance • Increasing food production • The use of new hybrid seeds, modern irrigation methods, the use of chemicals and pesticides • Introducing industrial technology • Machinery and information must be shared if shifts in economies are to take place • Instituting programs of foreign aid • Money can be used for equipment necessary for change to take place Sociology, Tenth Edition

Critical Evaluation • Modernization simply hasn’t happened in many nations • Fails to recognize how rich nations benefit from the status quo of poor nations • Fails to see the international relations affect all nations • Ethnocentric in that it holds up the richest nations as the standard to judge other societies • Blames global poverty on the poor societies themselves Sociology, Tenth Edition

Dependency TheoryThis Model of Economic Development Explains Global Inequality in Terms of the Historical Exploitation of Poor Societies by Rich Ones • Historical perspective • People living in poor countries were better off in that past than they are now. Economic position of rich & poor are linked • Importance of colonialism • Europeans colonized much of world west, south & east of them • “The sun never sets on the British empire” • African slave trade most brutal form of human exploitation • Neocolonialism is the “essence” of the modern capitalistic world economy! Sociology, Tenth Edition

Wallerstein’s Capitalist World Economy • Today’s world economy is rooted in the colonization that began 500 years ago • Rich countries form the core of the world economy being enriched by raw materials from around the world • Low income countries are the periphery, providing inexpensive labor and a market for industrial products • Middle income countries form the semiperiphery, having a closer tie to the core Sociology, Tenth Edition

Wallerstein’s Ideas Basic thesis -- the world economy benefits rich societies by generating profits and harms the rest of the world by perpetuating poverty thus the world economy makes poor nations dependent on rich ones Three factors are involved: • Narrow, export-oriented economies Poor countries produce only a few crops for export to rich countries • Lack of industrial capacity Poor countries must sell raw materials to rich countries and then buy finished products back from them at high prices • Foreign debt The poor countries of the world owe the rich countries $1 trillion dollars, including hundreds of billions to the united states! Sociology, Tenth Edition

Critical Evaluation • Wrongly treats wealth as a zero-sum game • Wrong to blame rich nations for global poverty • Too simplistic citing capitalism as the single factor • Repressive corrupt regimes, stifling cultural tradition • Downplays the economic dependence fostered by the former soviet union • More protest than policy • Thinly disguised call for world socialism Sociology, Tenth Edition

Global Stratification