Global Inequality

The nature of global inequality
– Rural Poverty
– Is global inequality getting better or
worse?

Theories of global inequality
– Modernization theory
– Dependency Theory
The nature of global
inequality



In the world today, the richest 25% of
the population receives 75% of the
world income.
The richest people of the world live in
North America, Europe, and Australia.
The poorest people of the world live in
Africa, India and Southeast Asia.




People in poor countries have little in
the way of possessions
Diets are often poor and lack meat ,
fruit and vegetables
Medical care is limited
As a result, life expectancy is short


In poor countries, the poorest people
live in rural areas.
Growing populations and traditional
farming techniques overstress the
land, leading to erosion and
deforestation and poor yields.

Government policies tend to favor city
people
– E.g. caps on prices of grain help city
people, but hurt rural farmers
Is global inequality
getting better or worse?




Depends on how you measure it
By country, it is getting worse
For individuals, it is getting better
Why is this? Because the most
populous poor countries, China and
India, have rising Gross Domestic
Products (GDPs).
Theories of Global
Inequality


Modernization theory (Rostow 1960)
Suggested that all countries would
inevitably go through the four stages
of development
1.
2.
3.
4.
The
The
The
The
traditional society
preconditions for takeoff
drive to maturity
age of high mass consumption


Modernization theory has been
criticized for being over optimistic
50 years after it was created, many
countries in the world are not
developed.
Dependency theory


Dependency theory suggests that the
reason why poor countries do not
develop is because they are forcibly
dependent on rich countries.
Poor countries sell raw materials that
are used for the industries of the rich
countries.


Means that most of the profits of
manufacturing stay in rich world.
No capital to develop industries in
poor countries.


Problems – some countries initially
dependent on selling raw materials
have managed to build industry – e.g.
Canada, Australia, U.S.
Places like China and India have been
able to develop.

China and India have been able to
turn their one resource – people – into
an asset (cheap labor)