Chapter 8: Global
Stratification
Objectives (slide 1 of 2)
8.1 Global Stratification Overview
• Identify world regions that account for the
largest share of world GDP.
• Identify a region that is undergoing a
dramatic decrease in its share of world GDP
as well as one that is experiencing a rapid
increase.
8.2 Wealth and Poverty: A Global View
• Identify key differences between countries in
different income categories and how this is
reflected in migration.
Objectives (slide 2 of 2)
8.3 Global Stratification: Theoretical
Perspectives
• Identify four theories of global stratification
and what distinguishes them.
8.4 Global Stratification Effects and the Future
• Identify some of the important trends likely
to affect global stratification in the future.
Regional Inequalities and Trends
The distribution of world GDP among
different regions both is very uneven and
is undergoing dramatic change.
Income Distribution
• Gross domestic product (GDP) is the
monetary value of all finished goods and
services produced within a country in a
year.
• Gross national income (GDI) = GDP –
taxes on production + net income payable
from abroad.
Poverty
• Absolute poverty: A condition of
deprivation in which people have too
little money or other resources to obtain
all they need for basic survival
Income Inequality
• The Gini coefficient is used to measure
the extent to which the distribution of
income differs from an equal distribution.
Increasing Inequality Over Time
within Nations
The OECD (the Organization for Economic
and Cooperative Development), in a 2011
report, provides data showing the gap
between rich and poor in OECD countries.
The OECD countries are 34 mostly highincome countries widely regarded as
developed countries with “very high”
Human Development Index (HDI) scores.
Life Expectancy at Birth
• Life expectancies at birth for high-income
countries include: the United States (78),
United Kingdom (80), Japan (83), and Australia
(82). For middle-income countries, life
expectancies are generally in the high 60s or
low 70s, such as for the Ukraine (69), China
(73), the Russian Federation (69), Brazil (73),
and Mexico (76). Low-income countries have
life expectancies ranging from highs like
Bangladesh (68), India (65), and Pakistan (65) to
lows for Guinea (53) and Sierra Leone (47).
Infant Mortality Rates
• Infant mortality is measured as the
number of deaths per 1,000 infants born
live in a year.
Adult Literacy Rate
• Adult literacy rate is the percentage of
people age 15 and older who can read
and write.
Gender Differences in Education
• Countries in which 50% of secondary
education pupils are female are more
likely to treat women fairly in other areas.
Water Quality
An infrastructure statistic that has
implications for health and public welfare
is access to improved water supplies.
Consumption and Pollution:
CO2 Emissions
Consumption and the resulting pollution in
different countries are also highly related
to income categories (Figure 8-16).
Technology: Internet Users,
Telephone Lines, and Cell Phones
People living in countries with greater
access to technologies such as the
Internet, telephone lines, or cell phones
have a better standard of living and
greater opportunity afforded by those
technologies for improving both their
economic and social well-being.
“Voting with Their Feet:”
Migration Rates (slide 1 of 2)
• Net migration rate: The number of
people moving into a country
(immigration) minus the number of
people moving out of the country
(emigration)
– Immigration: The number of people moving
into a country
– Emigration: The number of people moving
out of a country
Voting with Their Feet:”
Migration Rates (slide 2 of 2)
In 2010, only high-income countries
showed a net in-migration, or net gain, of
about 14 people per 1,000. Middleincome countries lost about 3 people per
1,000, and low-income countries lost
almost 9 people per 1,000 that year.
Forced Migration: Refugees and
Human Trafficking
• Refugee: Someone who was forced to leave his or her
country of origin to avoid violence and bloodshed in
civil wars, regional conflicts, and other disputes
• Human trafficking: The smuggling of humans, in
which a victim relies on a smuggler to help him or her
enter a country illegally
• Forced labor: People who are physically coerced to
work
• Bonded labor: An exploitive arrangement in which
the victim becomes indebted to underdefined,
undefined, or exploitative terms, making it impossible
to pay off the debt
• Sex trafficking: Victims are forced to work against
their will in the sex industry
Emigration of Highly Skilled People
• Brain drain/bright flight: The emigration
of highly skilled people from a country
Modernization Theory (slide 1 of 2)
• Modernization theory: A theory that
argues that progress can be made in poor
countries through the greater economic
and social development that comes from
adopting modern technologies, cultural
values, and economic institutions
Modernization Theory (slide 2 of 2)
• Modernization occurs in four stages:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Traditional stage: Characterized by fatalism, an
emphasis on traditional values, little or no investment
or saving for the future, little work ethic, and little or
no change
Take-off stage: A period of accelerating economic
growth, a decline in the influence of tradition, the
beginnings of a modern market economy, the growth
of trade, increased individualism, risk taking,
materialism, and saving for the future
Drive to technological maturity: The country adopts
the cultural values that support a modern complex
society, reinvests in industry, and begins to mature.
High mass consumption: People in the country enjoy a
high standard of living based on the mass consumption
of goods and services.
Dependency Theory
• Colonialism: A world stratification system
in which powerful nations forced weaker
nations to become colonies, thereby
securing them as sources of raw materials
and markets for goods produced by the
stronger nations
• Neocolonialism: Former colonies often
continue to be dominated by more
powerful nations in the world economy
World Systems Theory
• World systems theory: A theory that argues that
globalization unites countries into a single worldwide
political and economic system of interrelationships.
• Peripheral countries: The most dependent countries
in world systems theory, having low levels of
industrialization
• Core countries: The high-income countries that
dominate the world economic system
• Semiperipheral countries: The middle-income
countries, between the core countries and peripheral
countries, having intermediate levels of
industrialization, some manufacturing and services,
and greater autonomy than peripheral countries
The International Division of
Labor Theory
• International division of labor theory: A
theory that argues that multinational
corporations split production into tasks that
are then performed in whatever part of the
world can provide the most profitable
combination of labor and technology
• Global commodity chains: Worldwide
networks of production activities are
required to produce the finished product for
sale
The Consequences of Global
Inequality
• Increasing global competition and
reshuffling at the top
• Increasing inequality within countries
• Political instability
Global Inequality: Theoretical
Insights
• Increased worldwide dependence
• The rise of the corporation and the
decline of the nation state
• Changes driven by technology