what is global inequality in sociologywhat is global inequality in sociology

Who is living in absolute poverty? Just as in preCivil War America, these humans are at the mercy of their employers. Women in particular benefit from the informal sector. 2012. Slavery in the preCivil War American South most closely resembled ________________. How is it the same or different in peripheral nations? It was in this context that Bangladesh went from having a few dozen garment factories to several thousand. Global Wealth and Poverty Globally, inequality has also increased with 62 of the world's richest people owning as much wealth as half of the world's population in 2015. While economic equality is of great concern, so is social equality, like the discrimination stemming from race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and/or sexual orientation. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal discusses the challenges, parameters, and surprising benefits of this informal marketplace. The World Bank defines high-income nations as having a GNI of at least $12,276 per capita. In 2010, the average GNI of an upper middle income nation was $5,886 per capita with a population that was 57 percent urban. There are two dimensions to this stratification: gaps between nations and gaps within nations. In 2010, the average GNI of a low-income nation was $528 and the average population was 796,261,360, with 28 percent located in urban areas. Such issues have plagued middle-income countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as East Asian and Pacific nations (Dogruel and Dogruel 2007). People often disparage keeping up with the Jonesesthe idea that you must keep up with the neighbours standard of living to not feel deprived. Peripheral nations have very little industrialization; what they do have often represents the outdated castoffs of core nations, the factories and means of production owned by core nations, or the resources exploited by core nations. Inequality "concept 3", or global inequality, where "unlike the first two concepts, this one is individual-based: each person, regardless of her country, enters in the calculation with her actual income (Milanovic 2012, p. 4). The volatility of these investments means that the region has been unable to leverage them, especially when mixed with high interest rates for aid loans. Globalization is increasingly linked to inequality, but with often divergent and polarized findings. The MDGs, as they became known, sought to provide a practical and specific plan for eradicating extreme poverty around the world. Chang, Leslie T. 2008. But before we complain too bitterly, we must look at the culture of consumerism that Canadians embrace. Global Stratification. Life for the women factory workers in Dongguan is an adventure, compared to their fate in rural village life, but one characterized by gruelling work, insecurity, isolation, and loneliness. This means more women live in poor conditions, receive inadequate health care, bear the brunt of malnutrition and inadequate drinking water, and so on. Poverty in Africa, Famine and Disease. Retrieved January 2, 2012 (http://world-poverty.org/povertyinafrica.aspx). Unfortunately, although there are legal safety regulations and inspections in Bangladesh, the rapid expansion of the industry has exceeded the ability of underfunded state agencies to enforce them. For Canadian and multinational companies, the equation makes sense. While the majority of the worlds poorest countries are in Africa, the majority of the worlds poorest people are in Asia. Stratification refers to the gaps in resources both between nations and within nations. 1970. Improvements have been erratic, with hunger and malnutrition increasing from 2007 through 2009, undoing earlier achievements. 10. Millennium Development Goals. Retrieved December 29, 2011 (http://www.undp.org/mdg/basics.shtml). Central Intelligence Agency. A sociologist working from a symbolic interaction perspective would ____________________________________. There are abundant examples of countries in this category. Dependency theory states that as long as peripheral nations are dependent on core nations for economic stimulus and access to a larger piece of the global economy, they will never achieve stable and consistent economic growth. Once the workers are in debt, they have no choice but to continue working for the company, since their skills will not transfer to a new position. In general, time is one of the few luxuries the very poor have, but study after study has shown that women in poverty, who are responsible for all family comforts as well as any earnings they can make, have less of it. It states that global inequality is primarily caused by core nations (or high-income nations) exploiting semi-peripheral and peripheral nations (or middle-income and low-income nations), which creates a cycle of dependence (Hendricks 2010). A functionalist might focus on why we have global inequality and what social purposes it serves. Cultural equality, history, community, and local traditions are all at risk as modernization pushes into peripheral countries. The global watchdog group Anti-Slavery International recognizes other forms of slavery: human trafficking (where people are moved away from their communities and forced to work against their will), child domestic work and child labour, and certain forms of servile marriage, in which women are little more than chattel slaves (Anti-Slavery International 2012). Moghadam, Valentine M. 2005. But these successes show a disparity: some nations have seen great strides made, while others have seen virtually no progress. When it comes to global inequality, both economic inequality and social inequality may concentrate the burden of poverty among certain segments of the Earths population (Myrdal 1970). Global Stratification and Classification The functionalist perspective is a macroanalytical view that focuses on the way that all aspects of society are integral to the continued health and viability of the whole. In 2010, the average GNI of a high-income nation that did not belong to the OECD was $23,839 per capita and 83 percent was urban. They are unable to participate in society in a meaningful way. End of Millennium. Why do you think some scholars find Cold War terminology (first world and so on) objectionable? Inequality - Bridging the Divide Today, wherever people live, they don't have to look far to confront inequalities. We have, as a country, outsourced ourselves out of jobs, and not just menial jobs, but white-collar work as well. The symbolic interaction perspective studies the day-to-day impact of global inequality, the meanings individuals attach to global stratification, and the subjective nature of poverty. Poor people face physical health challenges, including malnutrition and high infant mortality rates. 1 Citations Abstract The world is very unequal. Chang writes, Dongguan was a place without memory., absolute poverty the state where one is barely able, or unable, to afford basic necessities, anti-globalization movement a global counter-movement based on principles of environmental sustainability, food sovereignty, labour rights, and democratic accountability that challenges the corporate model of globalization, capital flight the movement (flight) of capital from one nation to another, via jobs and resources, chattel slavery a form of slavery in which one person owns another, core nations dominant capitalist countries, debt accumulation the buildup of external debt, wherein countries borrow money from other nations to fund their expansion or growth goals, debt bondage when people pledge themselves as servants in exchange for money for passage, and are subsequently paid too little to regain their freedom, deindustrialization the loss of industrial production, usually to peripheral and semi-peripheral nations where the costs are lower, dependency theory theory stating that global inequity is due to the exploitation of peripheral and semi-peripheral nations by core nations, first world a term from the Cold War era that is used to describe industrialized capitalist democracies, fourth world a term that describes stigmatized minority groups who have no voice or representation on the world stage, global feminization a pattern that occurs when women bear a disproportionate percentage of the burden of poverty, global inequality the concentration of resources in core nations and in the hands of a wealthy minority, global stratification the unequal distribution of resources between countries, gross national income (GNI) the income of a nation calculated based on goods and services produced, plus income earned by citizens and corporations headquartered in that country, metropolis-hinterland relationship the relationship between nations when resources of the hinterlands are shipped to the metropolises where they are converted into manufactured goods and shipped back to the hinterlands for consumption, modernization theory a theory that low-income countries can improve their global economic standing by industrialization of infrastructure and a shift in cultural attitudes toward work, peripheral nations nations on the fringes of the global economy, dominated by core nations, with very little industrialization, relative poverty the state of poverty where one is unable to live the lifestyle of the average person in the country, second world a term from the Cold War era that describes nations with moderate economies and standards of living, semi-peripheral nations in-between nations, not powerful enough to dictate policy but acting as a major source of raw materials and providing an expanding middle-class marketplace, subjective poverty a state of poverty subjectively present when ones actual income does not meet ones expectations, third world a term from the Cold War era that refers to poor, nonindustrialized countries, underground economy an unregulated economy of labour and goods that operates outside of governance, regulatory systems, or human protections. Sociologists Neckerman and Torche (2007) divided the consequences into three areas. Effectively, we no longer live and act in the self-enclosed spaces of national states. Globalization theory argues that the division between the wealthy and the poor is now organized in the context of a single, integrated global economy rather than between core and peripheral nations. There are two dimensions to this stratification: gaps between nations and gaps within nations. This applies both to inequalities within countries and between countries. gain. In the spirit of a grand-scale New Years resolution, it was a time for lofty aspirations and dreams of changing the world. Global inequality results from this and refers to this unequal distribution of resources on a global scale, between nations. The outsourcing was outsourced. How would you manage the necessitiesand how would you make up the gap between what you need to live and what you can afford? The Challenge of World Poverty: A World Anti-Poverty Program in Outline. Development and Change. As with any social issue, global or otherwise, there are a variety of theories that scholars develop to study the topic. 10.1. Those that were in a state of subordination faced significant obstacles to mobilization. However, as the cost of Chinese labour has incrementally increased since the 1990s, the Chinese have moved into the role of connecting Western retailers and designers with production centres elsewhere. Prejudice and discriminationwhether against a certain race, ethnicity, religion, or the likecan create and aggravate conditions of economic equality, both within and between nations. Cultures are either functional or dysfunctional for the economic development of societies. 4. She is homeless and often does not know where she will sleep or when she will eat. Within this model, the world and its resources are reorganized and managed on the basis of the free trade of goods and services and the free circulation of capital by democratically unaccountable political and economic elite organizations like the G7, the WTO (World Trade Organization), GATT (General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs), the World Bank and IMF (International Monetary Fund), and the various international measures used to liberalize the global economy (the 1995 Agreement on Agriculture, Trade-Related Investment Measures (TRIMs), Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS)). Core nations are dominant capitalist countries, highly industrialized, technological, and urbanized. Global inequalities of income and wealth are on the increase, in most respects, while global poverty has been significantly reduced in recent years. To learn more about the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, go to: http://openstaxcollege.org/l/UN_development_goals, To learn more about the existence and impact of global poverty, peruse the data here: http://openstaxcollege.org/l/poverty_data, 10.2. How did wealth become concentrated in some nations? C| 13. Social scientists define global poverty in different ways, taking into account the complexities and the issues of relativism described above. 2002. Global Stratification and Classification, 10.3. When it comes to global inequality, both . The economic downturns in these countries are threatening the economy of the entire European Union. The second worldwas the socialist world or Soviet bloc: industrially developed but organized according to a state socialist or communist model of political economy. Does it mean living with almost no furniture in your apartment because your income does not allow for extras like beds or chairs? Since the 1970s, capital accumulation has taken place less and less in the context of national economies. 2. Global Wealth and Poverty One flaw in dependency theory is the unwillingness to recognize ____________________________________. For example, how many Canadian companies move operations offshore to take advantage of overseas workers who lack the constitutional protection and guaranteed minimum wages that exist in Canada? 15. It is also true that in the poorest countries, millions of people die from the lack of clean drinking water and sanitation facilities, which are benefits most of us take for granted. In contrast, Black sociology claims the socioeconomic challenges Black people face, such as higher poverty and lower educational achievement rates, are evidence of racism and capitalism's interdependence. B | 2. By 2001, so much money was leaving the country that there was a financial panic, leading to riots and ultimately, the resignation of the president (U.S. Department of State 2011a). What Is Global Inequality? Does your school adhere to any principles of fare trade? Organizations like the Better Factories Cambodia program inspect garment production regularly in Cambodia, enabling stores like Mountain Equipment Co-op to purchase reports on the factory chains it relies on. It becomes even more difficult to do something about the working conditions of those global workers when even the retail stores are uncertain about where the shirts come form. Give an example of the feminization of poverty in core nations. The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. Cold War terminology was developed during the Cold War era (19451980) when the world was divided between capitalist and communist economic systems (and their respective geopolitical aspirations). Development and underdevelopment were not stages in a natural process of gradual modernization, but the product of power relations and colonialism. There is no room within this theory for the possibility that industrialization and technology are not the best goals. Why? McMichael, Philip. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. You can be sure the workers in these factories, which are owned or leased by global core nation companies, are not enjoying the same privileges and rights as Canadian workers. Background Note: China. Retrieved January 3, 2012 (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm#econ). B| 10. Is it fair for powerful countries to make rules that make it difficult for less-powerful nations to compete on the global scene? It is harder for females to get credit to expand businesses, to take the time to learn a new skill, or to spend extra hours improving their craft so as to be able to earn at a higher rate. Along with developing and developed nations, the terms less-developed nation and underdeveloped nation were used. These legalized and culturally accepted forms of prejudice and discrimination exist everywherefrom the United States to Somalia to Tibetrestricting the freedom of individuals and often putting their lives at risk (Amnesty International 2012). Rather, as we saw in the example of the garment industry, capital circulates on a global scale, leading to a global reordering of inequalities both between nations and within nations. Global Stratification and Classification, 10.3. Consider the example of Rwanda. October 12. Retrieved January 5, 2012 . In the past, Canada manufactured clothes. 10.1. Population, Urbanization, and the Environment, Chapter21. Exacerbating the problem, 2011 saw a drought in northeast Africa that brought starvation to many in the region. Does it make sense that poverty is in the eye of the beholder? Theoretical Perspectives on Global Stratification What is their relationship like? The building, like 90 percent of Dhakas 4,000 garment factories, was structurally unsound. India and other semi-peripheral countries have emerging infrastructures and education systems to fill their needs, without core nation costs. What factors come into play? Weve examined functionalist and conflict theorist perspectives on global inequality, as well as modernization and dependency theories. A| 7. Inequality is thus, without any surprise, an important issue for the IMF in all three of its core activities: (1) lending to support macroeconomic adjustment programs; (2) macroeconomic surveillance, including related policy analysis; and. How can we address the needs of the worlds population? US President Barack Obama has called rising income inequality the "defining challenge of our time", the topic has been on the agenda at meetings of the World Economic Forum in Davos, and studies by the IMF and the OECD (e.g., OECD, 2014, and IMF, 2014) have associated income inequality with lower economic growth. Faith has a full-time job and two children. Once global markets have reduced the value of a countrys goods, it can be very difficult to manage the debt burden. Like most versions of modernization theory,Rustows schema describes a linear process of development culminating in the formation of democratic, capitalist societies. Afterward, Walmart and The Children's Place pledged $1 million and $450,000 (respectively) to the Rana Plaza Trust Fund, but fifteen other companies with clothing made in the building have contributed nothing, including U.S. companies Cato and J.C. Penney (Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights 2014). The World Bank defines lower middle income countries as having a GNI that ranges from $1,006 to $3,975 per capita and upper middle income countries as having a GNI ranging from $3,976 to $12,275 per capita. While economic equality is of great concern, so is social equality, like the discrimination stemming from race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and/or sexual orientation. The garment industry now accounts for 80 percent of Bangladeshs export earnings. When this nomenclature was developed, capitalistic democracies such as the United States, Canada, and Japan were considered part of the first world. Eve of Destruction by Rick Harris (https://www.flickr.com/photos/37153080@N00/62624493/) use under CC BY SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/). 1. Introduction to Sociology - 1st Canadian Edition by William Little and Ron McGivern is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. We use the latest available data from the World Income Inequality Database 3.4 and the Penn World Tables 9.0 to examine some of the core issues and concerns that have animated research on global inequality. Poverty and Equity Data. Contrary to relative poverty, people who live in absolute poverty lack even the basic necessities, which typically include adequate food, clean water, safe housing, and access to health care. In 2000, the world entered a new millennium. Foreign Debt Dynamics in Middle Income Countries. Paper presented January 4, 2007 at Middle East Economic Association Meeting, Allied Social Science Associations, Chicago, IL. It separates out the OECD (Organisation for Economic and Co-operative Development) countries, a group of 34 nations whose governments work together to promote economic growth and sustainability. The resources of the hinterlands were shipped to the metropolises where they were converted into manufactured goods and shipped back for consumption in the hinterlands. But according to the International Labour Organization (an agency of the United Nations), some 52 million people worldwide will lose their jobs due to the 2008 recession. 2007. While those in relative poverty might not have enough to live at their countrys standard of living, those in absolute poverty do not have, or barely have, basic necessities such as food. ), and luxury goods, general prosperity, egalitarianism). In what countries are these produced? 1. Structural conditions include things that can be objectively measured and that contribute to social inequality. Many years later, what has happened? Most Americans believe in meritocracy, the idea that people advance in wealth . Sociologically, social inequality can be studied as a social problem that encompasses three dimensions: structural conditions, ideological supports, and social reforms. Although individuals may support or fight inequalities, social . Global stratification highlights worldwide patterns of social inequality. As the tablebelow illustrates, peoples life expectancy depends heavily on where they happen to be born. Global Stratification and Classification. To identify critical knowledge gaps and propose a global research agenda on inequality. To look at the economic dimensions of these is not a step away from sociology - it is central to making sense of the sociological concern of inequality. 10.2. While the former type of inequality is defined as "international inequality," the latter kind is generally referred to as "global inequality.". Consider the controversy surrounding female genital mutilation. The poorest, most undeveloped countries were referred to as the third world and included most of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia. Relative poverty is a measure of inequality. The field of sociology explores the complexities of society, human behavior, and social interactions. Poverty in Latin America, Foreign Aid Debt Burdens. Retrieved January 2, 2012 (http://world-poverty.org/povertyinlatinamerica.aspx). And while those in core nations know that unemployment rates and limited government safety nets can be frightening, it is nothing compared to the loss of a job for those barely eking out an existence. A ____________ perspective theorist might find it particularly noteworthy that wealthy corporations improve the quality of life in peripheral nations by providing workers with jobs, pumping money into the local economy, and improving transportation infrastructure. Global inequality is the unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and power that shape well-being among the 8 billion individuals on our planet. According to globalization theory, the outcome of the globalization project has been the redistribution of wealth and poverty on a global scale. A shocking number of people88 millionlive in absolute poverty, and close to 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day (Shah 2011). Following that theory, sociologists have found that entities are more likely to outsource a significant portion of a companys work if they are the dominant player in the equation; in other words, companies want to see their partner countries healthy enough to provide work, but not so healthy as to establish a threat (Caniels, Roeleveld, and Roeleveld 2009). The free trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) are examples of how a core nation can leverage its power to gain the most advantageous position in the matter of global trade. Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices. 2013. Garment workers in Bangladesh work under unsafe conditions for as little as $38 a month so that North American consumers can purchase T-shirts in the fashionable colours of the season for as little as $5. Global Wealth and Poverty Certain groups are disproportionately affected by such disparities, including migrants . Even in Canada, the informal economy exists, although not on the same scale as in peripheral and semi-peripheral nations. Castells, Manuel. A| 14. The Distribution of Wealth In fact it can be very difficult to discover where exactly the items we use everyday have come from. According to the U.S. State Department, Chinas market-oriented reforms have contributed to its significant reduction of poverty and the speed at which it has experienced an increase in income levels (U.S. Department of State 2011b). Global Stratification and Classification. March 14. In defining poverty, a distinction is usually made between absolute and relative poverty. According to the Work Bank (2011), in 2010, the average GNI of a high-income nation belonging to the OECD was $40,136 per capita; on average, 77 percent of the population in these nations was urban. How might a symbolic interactionist approach this topic? Further, internal political struggles, illegal drug trafficking, and corrupt governments have added to the pressure (World Poverty 2012c). They are an expanding middle-class marketplace for core nations, while also exploiting peripheral nations. 7. 2009. Definition of Global Inequality. Mike is living in ___________________. While stratification in the United States refers to the unequal distribution of resources among individuals, global stratification refers to this unequal distribution among nations. The poorest people in the world are women in peripheral and semi-peripheral nations. Tiessen, Kaylie. When it comes to global inequality, both economic inequality and . 10.1: Global Stratification and Classification. Wallerstein, Immanuel. That cost saving has to come from somewhere. Others maintain that these claims are patently incorrect, arguing that globalization has disintegrated national borders and prompted . Details of how wealth is measured are included at the bottom of this post. Most of the T-shirts that we wear in Canada today begin their life in the cotton fields of arid west China, which owe their scale and efficiency to the collectivization projects of centralized state socialism. Paris, France. As the name suggests, debt accumulation is the buildup of external debt, when countries borrow money from other nations to fund their expansion or growth goals. With this theory, global inequality is the result of core nations creating a cycle of dependence by exploiting resources and labor in peripheral and semi-peripheral countries. People often disparage "keeping up with the Joneses"the idea that you must keep up with the neighbors' standard of living to not feel deprived. A major concern when discussing global inequality is how to avoid an ethnocentric bias implying that less developed nations want to be like those who have attained postindustrial global power. Most of us are accustomed to thinking of global stratification as economic inequality. According to sociologists Neckerman and Torche (2007) in their analysis of global inequality studies, the consequences of poverty are many. The Capitalist World Economy. Who are the impoverished? He conceived the global economy as a complex historical system supporting an economic hierarchy that placed some nations in positions of power with numerous resources and other nations in a state of economic subordination. Want to create or adapt books like this? Mission, Vision and Organizing Philosophy. August. Social Stratification in Canada, Chapter20. One of the most pressing causes of poverty in Asia is simply the pressure that the size of the population puts on its resources. 10.2. Doing so allows them to maximize profits, but at what cost? Figure 1.2 Sociologists learn about society while studying one-to-one and group interactions. Employment has also been slow to progress, as has a reduction in HIV infection rates, which have continued to outpace the number of people getting treatment. 9. What does it mean to be poor? As mentioned above, capital flight describes jobs and infrastructure moving from one nation to another. D| 9. While there is often criticism of the World Bank, both for its policies and its method of calculating data, it is still a common source for global economic data. World Poverty. But over the last two decades of globalization, Canadian consumers have become increasingly tied through popular retail chains to a complex network of outsourced garment production that stretches from China, through Southeast Asia, to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Schneider, F. and D.H. Enste. They go from the traditional family affiliations and narrow options of the past to life in a perpetual present. Friendships are fleeting and fragile, forms of life are improvised and sketchy, and everything they do is marked by the goals of upward mobility, resolute individualism, and an obsession with prosperity. At one time, the garment industry was important in Canada, centred on Spadina Avenue in Toronto and Chabanel Street in Montreal. By way of example, even in the European Union, which is composed of more core nations than semi-peripheral nations, the semi-peripheral nations of Italy, Portugal, and Greece face increasing debt burdens. Amnesty International. Think of people among your family, your friends, or your classmates who are relatively unequal in terms of wealth.

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