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Lesson 19: Global Inequality
Social Problems
Robert Wonser
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 The 85 richest people on the planet now
have as much money as the poorest 3.5
billion.
 Oxfam estimates that between March
2013 and March 2014, those same 85
billionaires saw their wealth grow by
$668 million every day.
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 These people are so
grotesquely rich that if Bill
Gates, for example, spent $1
million every day, it would
take him 218 years to
exhaust his funds.
 That, of course, would never
happen because Gates
would be earning millions of
dollars a day in interest on
the rest of his wealth.
When you have more money
than you could possibly spend
in several lifetimes, you can
afford to do some pretty crazy
things.
Like spend $95,000 on a 4 lb
white truffle that looks like a
turd because when your
name is Vladimir Potanin, the
Russian mining tycoon, and
you have a net worth of $13.9
billion, $95,000 is pocket
change.
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World Systems Theory
 World-systems theory (also known as
world-systems analysis or the worldsystems perspective), a multidisciplinary,
macro-scale approach to world history
and social change, emphasizes the
world-system (and not nation states) as
the primary (but not exclusive) unit of
social analysis.
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 "World-system" refers to the inter-regional
and transnational division of labor, which
divides the world into core countries, semiperiphery countries, and the periphery
countries. Core countries focus on higher
skill, capital-intensive production, and the
rest of the world focuses on low-skill, laborintensive production and extraction of raw
materials.
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 This constantly reinforces the
dominance of the core countries.
Nonetheless, the system has dynamic
characteristics, in part as a result of
revolutions in transport technology, and
individual states can gain or lose their
core (semi-periphery, periphery) status
over time.
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 For a time, some countries become the
world hegemon; during the last few
centuries, as the world-system has
extended geographically and intensified
economically, this status has passed from
the Netherlands, to the United Kingdom
and (most recently) to the United States of
America.
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 Wallerstein begins with Max Weber’s
definition of the Nation-State:
 The State is an:
 1.
 2.
 3.
 4.
organization given
legitimacy by the people
and has power
over a given territory
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 Then he looks at Nation-States in relation to
other Nation-States. The result is a Marxist
analysis on an international scale:
 Some Nation-States have a great deal
of economic power and influence
(bourgeoise states)
 Some Nation-States have very little
economic power and influence
(proletarian states)
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 Nation-States are organized into networks or
what Wallerstein calls “World-Systems”
 There are two essential types of “World-
Systems”
 • World Empires (like the Roman Empire,
Europe in the Middle Ages)
 • The Modern Capitalist World Economy (a
true World-System)
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
Wallerstein is interested in the Modern Capitalist World
Economy.
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Characteristics of the Modern Capitalist World Economy:
1. Contains multiple Nation-States
2. Competition through trade and warfare
3. Different Nation-States have different levels of power
4. An economic division of labor develops between
Nation-States on a global scale
5. Usually one Nation-State emerges as the dominant state

World-Systems Theory helps to answer the question why there
has not been the proletarian revolution that Marx
emphasized.
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The World-Systems Theory
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Core Countries
 the dominant Nation-States
 have a wide range of products, use advanced
technology, and enjoy relatively high wages.
 Play major roles in world trade by importing raw
materials from poorer countries and export
manufactured goods and services back to them
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Periphery
 the exploited Nation-States
 have narrow ranges of products, less advanced
technology, and lower wages
 primarily produce raw materials and provide labor
power for the world economy
 play a secondary role in world trade
 commonly depend on core countries for purchasing
their exports, supplying their imports, and providing
capital.
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Semi-Periphery
 in the process of moving between the
two extremes
 retain dependent relationships with
core countries, but have peripheral
countries dependent upon them
 dominant core countries almost always
come from the semi-periphery and
return to the semi-periphery
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External Areas
 those areas not yet incorporated into
the capitalist world economy
 do such areas exist today??
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 Who has been the dominant core Nation-
State through history:
 1450-1620/40
Spain
 1600s-1750
Netherlands (France)
 1750-1917
Britain
 1917-present
United States
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