Global Inequality
9
Sociology in Modules
2nd edition
Richard T. Schaefer
© 2013 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Global Divide
• Inequality a significant
determinant of human behavior
• Divides in global wealth emerged as
result of the Industrial Revolution
and rising agricultural productivity
– Resulting rise in living standards
not evenly distributed across the world
Slide 2
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Stratification in the World System
• Stark contrasts between
industrial and developing nations
– Legacy of colonialism
– Multinational
corporations
– Modernization
Slide 3
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The Legacy of Colonialism
• Colonialism: Foreign power maintains
political, social, economic, and cultural
domination for an extended period of time
• Neocolonialism: Continued dependence on
more industrialized nations for managerial
and technical expertise by former colonies
Slide 4
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The Legacy of Colonialism
• Wallerstein: World Systems Analysis
– Interdependent global economy rests on
unequal economic and political relationships
• Nations do not onstituted whole systems
• They exist within a larger, global social context
– Dependency Theory: Even as developing
countries make economic advances,
they remain weak and subservient
to core nations and corporations
Slide 5
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The Legacy of Colonialism
• Growing share of the human and
natural resources of developing
countries redistributed to
the core industrialized nations
• Globalization: Worldwide integration
of government policies, cultures,
social movements, and financial markets
through trade and exchange of ideas
Slide 6
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Figure 29-1: Fundamental Global Inequality
Source: Adapted from Sutcliffe 2002:18.
Slide 7
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Figure 29-2: Gross National Income per Capita
Source: Haub 2010; Weeks 2012.
Slide 8
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Figure 29-3: World Systems Analysis
Source: Haub 2010; Weeks 2012.
Slide 9
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Poverty Worldwide
• Poverty is worldwide problem that
blights the lives of billions of people
– Millennium Project asks industrial
nations to set aside 0.51% of gross
national income for developing nations
• Gross national income: total value of a nation’s
goods and services (GNP), plus or minus
income received from and sent to other nations
• U.S.’s contribution among lowest
of industrialized countries
Slide 10
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Figure 29-4: Poverty Worldwide
Source: Chronic Poverty Research Centre 2009.
Slide 11
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Figure 29-5: Foreign Aid per Capita in Nine Countries
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2011:2.
Slide 12
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Multinational corporations
• Multinational corporations: Commercial
organizations headquartered in one country
but doing business throughout the world
– Total revenue of multinational businesses
on par with total value of goods and
services exchanged in entire nations
– Over 12% of U.S. goods and services
relates to exports to foreign countries
Slide 13
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Functionalist Perspective
• Multinational corporations
help developing nations
– Jobs and industry
– Maximum advantage of
technology while reducing
costs and boosting profits
– Make nations more
interdependent and less
likely to enter conflicts
Slide 14
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Conflict Perspective
• Multinational corporations exploit
local workers to maximize profits
– Investment by multinationals
initially contributes to
host nation’s wealth
– Negative social impact
on workers in both
industrialized and
developing nations
Slide 15
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Sociology in the
Global Community
Income Inequality: A Global Perspective
– If your family has a pet, how much money
do you think you spend on your pet every
year? How does that figure compare to the
average annual income in China or India?
– By itself, do you think Korzeniewicz and
Moran’s income-based measure is a
sufficient indicator of global inequality?
Slide 16
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Modernization
• Modernization: Process by which peripheral
nations move from traditional institutions to
those characteristic of developed societies
– Modernization Theory: Functionalist
view that modernization and
development will gradually improve
lives of people in developing nations
Slide 17
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Table 29-1: Sociological Perspectives on Global Inequalities
Slide 18
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Social Mobility
• Intergenerational mobility
patterns in industrialized nations:
– Similarities in ways parent’s positions in
stratification systems transmitted to children
– Mobility opportunities
influenced by structural factors
– Immigration significant factor in shaping
society’s level of intergenerational mobility
Slide 19
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Social Mobility
• Mobility in developing nations
– Macro-level social and economic
changes often overshadow micro-level
movement from one occupation to another
• Gender Differences and Mobility
– As country develops and
modernizes, women’s vital role
in food production deteriorates
Slide 20
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Figure 30-1: Distribution of Income in Nine Nations
Source: World Bank 2010a:94–96.
Slide 21
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Sociology in the
Global Community
Stratification in Brazil
– At the bottom of each of the accompanying
graphs, which income distribution appears
to be more unequal? Now look at the top of
each graph. Which income distribution
appears to be more unequal?
– Race-based college admissions quotas have
been the subject of hot debate in the
United States. Why do you think they have
been accepted as law in Brazilian society?
Slide 22
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Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
• Mexico’s Economy
– World Bank reported that in 2011, 4.8% of
Mexico’s population survived on $2 per day
– Castañeda: polarized society with
enormous gaps between rich and poor,
town and country, north and south,
white and brown (or criollos and mestizos )
Slide 23
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Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
• Race Relations in Mexico: The Color Hierarchy
– Subordinate status of Mexico’s Indians
one reflection of nation’s color hierarchy
• Criollos
• Mestizo
• Bottom of the color hierarchy are
destitute, full-blooded Mexican Indian
minority and a small number of Blacks
– Widespread denial of prejudice
– Marked growth in last decade of organizations
and associations for rights of indigenous Indian
Slide 24
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Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
• The Status of Women in Mexico
– Constitute 48% of labor force
– More mired in lowest-paying jobs
than counterparts in industrial nations
– When Mexican women work outside
home, often not recognized as active
and productive household members
– Organizing to address
economic, political, and health issues
Slide 25
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Case Study: Stratification in Mexico
• The Borderlands: Area of common
cultures along border of Mexico and U.S.
– Maquiladoras: Foreign-owned factories
that do not have to pay taxes
or provide benefits to workers
– Remittances (migradollars): Estimated
to be minimum of $22 billion a year
Slide 26
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Figure 30-2: The Borderlands
Source: Prepared by the author based on Archibold and Preston 2008;
Department of Homeland Security 2008; Marosi 2007; and Ratha et al. 2010.
Slide 27
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Rethinking Welfare in
Europe and North America
• In a time of economic stress and growing
need, governments in all parts of the world
are searching for the right solution to welfare
Slide 28
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Rethinking Welfare in
Europe and North America
• Looking at the Issue
– 1996: Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
– Expenditures to housing, social
security, welfare, health care, and
unemployment compensation than U.S.
Slide 29
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Rethinking Welfare in
Europe and North America
• Applying Sociology
– Critics of welfare reform: nation’s
economic problems unfairly
blamed on welfare spending and poor
– Conflict theorists: “welfare scapegoating”
ignores lucrative federal handouts to
affluent and enables administrative sanctions
• Corporate welfare: tax breaks, bailouts,
direct payments, and grants that
the government gives to corporations
Slide 30
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Rethinking Welfare in
Europe and North America
• Initiating Policy
– Government likes to highlight
welfare-reform success stories
– Families that have left the rolls are modestly
better off now, most of their breadwinners
continue to hold low-paying, unskilled jobs
– European governments have encountered many
of the same citizen demands as in North America
Slide 31
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