Global Inequality
Introduction to Sociology
Ninth Edition
Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier,
Richard P. Appelbaum, & Deborah Carr
Chapter 9
Stratification, Class, and Inequality
• Who was the world’s richest person in
2012?
– (a) Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft
– (b) Warren Buffett, investor, CEO of
Berkshire Hathaway
– (c) Carlos Slim Helu, head of Grupo
Carso, a global conglomerate based in
Mexico
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Learning Objectives
• Basic Concepts
– Understand the systematic differences in wealth and power
among countries
• Theories of Global Inequality
– Recognize the impact of different economic standards of living
on people throughout the world
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Learning Objectives
• Research on Global Inequality Today
– Analyze the success of newly industrializing economies
• Unanswered Questions
– Consider various theories explaining why some societies are
wealthier than others, as well as how global inequality can be
overcome
– Learn how globalization might shape global inequality in the
future
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Basic Concepts
• Globalization
– The increased economic, political, and
social interconnectedness of the world
• Global inequality
– The systematic differences in wealth and
power between countries
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Basic Concepts
• Countries divided by per-person
gross national income (GNI)
– 70 high-income countries
– 54 upper-middle-income countries
– 54 lower-middle-income countries
– 36 low-income countries
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Basic Concepts
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Basic Concepts
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Basic Concepts
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Basic Concepts
• High-income countries
– Highly industrialized
– 14.2 percent of the world’s population
– 66 percent of the world’s total income
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Basic Concepts
• Middle-income countries
– Diverse group
– Varying levels of industrialization
– 71.7 percent of the world’s population
– 31 percent of the world’s total income
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Basic Concepts
• Low-income countries
– Diverse group
– Mostly agricultural, in early phase of
industrialization
– 12 percent of the world’s population
– 7 percent of the world’s total income
– High population growth
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Market-oriented theories
– Argue that the best possible economic
consequences will result if individuals
are free to make their own economic
decisions, uninhibited by governmental
restraint
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Market-oriented theories
– W. W. Rostow’s modernization theory
suggests 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.
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Market-oriented theories
– W. W. Rostow’s modernization theory
•
•
•
•
Traditional stage
Takeoff to economic growth
Drive to technological maturity
High mass consumption
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Market-oriented theories
– Neoliberalism
• Free market forces, achieved by minimizing
government restrictions on business,
provide the only route to economic growth
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Dependency theories
– Marxist theories that argue that the
poverty of low-income countries stems
directly from their exploitation by
wealthy countries and the multinational
corporations that are based in wealthy
countries
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Dependency theories
– Colonialism
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Dependency theories
– Dependent development
• Poor countries can still develop
economically but only in ways shaped by
their reliance on the wealthier countries
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Theories of Global Inequality
• World-systems theory
– Immanuel Wallerstein
– Countries are connected by the
expansion of a capitalist world economy
made up of core, semiperiphery, and
periphery countries
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Theories of Global Inequality
• World-systems theory
– World market for goods and labor
– Division of population into economic
classes
– International system of formal and
informal political relations
– Division of world into three unequal
economic zones
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Theories of Global Inequality
• World-systems theory
– Core
• Made up of the most advanced industrial
countries that share most of the profits of the
world economic system
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Theories of Global Inequality
• World-systems theory
– Periphery
• Made up of countries that have a marginal
role in the world economy and are thus
dependent on the core producing societies
for their trading relationships
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Theories of Global Inequality
• World-systems theory
– Semiperiphery
• Made up of countries that supply sources of
labor and raw materials to the core
industrial countries and the world economy
but are not themselves fully industrialized
societies
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Theories of Global Inequality
• World-systems theory
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Global commodity chains theory
– Worldwide networks of labor and
production processes yielding a finished
product
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Global commodity chains theory
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Theories of Global Inequality
• Evaluating theories of global
inequality
– Market-oriented theories recommend adoption of modern
capitalist institutions.
– Dependency theories emphasize how wealthy nations have
exploited poor ones.
– World-systems theory analyzes the world economy as a whole,
looking at the complex global web of political and economic
relationships that influence development and inequality in poor
and rich nations alike.
– The theory of global commodity chains focuses on global
businesses and their activities rather than relationships
between countries.
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Global Inequality
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Research on Global Inequality Today
• Health
– Differences in access to and quality of
health care facilities
– Differences in overall cleanliness (water,
sanitation, soil, air)
– Rates of infectious diseases vary
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Research on Global Inequality Today
• Hunger, Malnutrition, and Famine
– Differences in access to and quality of
food due to natural and social forces
• Droughts
• Conflict
• Economic problems
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Research on Global Inequality Today
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Research on Global Inequality Today
• Education and Literacy
– Quality and years of education affect
economic development
• High-wage industries need skilled
workforce
• Educated people are more likely to escape
poverty
• Educated people have fewer children
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Unanswered Questions
• Is Global Poverty Increasing or
Decreasing?
– Percentage of people living on less than
$1.25 per day declined between 2005
and 2008
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Unanswered Questions
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Unanswered Questions
• What about Inequality Between
Countries?
– Widening global gap between rich and
poor countries
– Newly industrializing economies (NIEs)
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Unanswered Questions
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Unanswered Questions
• What Does Rapid Globalization Mean
for the Future of Global Inequality?
– Technology innovators
– Technology adopters
– Technologically disconnected
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Concept Quiz
The increased economic, political, and social
interconnectedness of the world is called
_____ .
(a) transnational networking
(b) international interdependence
(c) global networking
(d) globalization
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Concept Quiz
According to the text, the belief that freemarket forces, unimpeded by government
restrictions on business, provide the only
route to economic growth, is referred to as
____ .
(a) neoliberalism
(b) colonialism
(c) modernization
(d) independent development
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Concept Quiz
In April 2013 in Savar, Bangladesh, 1,129 workers
were killed when a building housing several
garment factories collapsed. Workers in the
factories produced clothing for Walmart, Mango,
and Bonmarché, among many others. These
workers were part of ______.
(a) a strong labor union
(b) the semiperiphery
(c) a global commodity chain
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Concept Quiz
Kati left Haiti several years ago for New York City because she was
unable to support her family on the extremely low wages she made
working in a textile factory that made clothes for a large, transnational
company. Even though she entered the United States without a visa,
she believed she could make more money in New York than in Haiti.
However, the only work she was able to find was in a small garment
factory, where she made less than minimum wage making clothing for
the same company as she had in Haiti. What can be concluded from
Kati’s experience?
(a) Governmental regulations have no real impact on global commodity chains.
(b) The experiences and fates of workers within the United States are
connected to those of workers in peripheral countries.
(c) Immigrants to the United States are taking factory jobs away from U.S.
citizens.
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Concept Quiz
Why might changes of the percentage of regional
populations in extreme poverty not accurately
represent changes in the number of actual people in
poverty?
(a) Because of drastic increases in population, drops in percentage of
extreme poverty may hide an actual increase in the numbers of people
experiencing extreme poverty.
(b) Because only percentages are represented, it is nearly impossible
to actually compare extreme poverty between regions.
(c) Extreme poverty was measured differently in 1990 than in 2008,
therefore confounding the results presented.
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Concept Quiz
Where are the vast majority of newly
industrializing economies (NIEs) found?
(a) Africa
(b) Latin America
(c) Asia
(d) Eastern Europe
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Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically
Summarize the four types of theories that
explain why there are gaps between nations’
economic development and resulting global
inequality: market-oriented theories,
dependency theories, world-systems theory,
and state-centered theories. Briefly discuss
the distinctive characteristics of each type of
theory and how it differs from the others.
Which theory do you feel best explains
economic development gaps?
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Discussion Question: Thinking
Sociologically
This chapter states that global economic
inequality has personal relevance and
importance to people in advanced, affluent
economies. Briefly review this argument.
Explain whether you were persuaded by it or
not.
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This concludes the Lecture PowerPoint
presentation for Chapter 9
Instructions
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