© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 9 Global Stratification Chapter Outline Wealth and Poverty in Global Perspective Problems in Studying Global Inequality Classification of Economies by Income Measuring Global Wealth and Poverty Global Poverty and Human Development Issues Theories of Global Inequality Global Inequality in the Future

© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Wealth and Poverty in Global Perspective Global stratification refers to the unequal distribution of wealth, power, and prestige on a global basis, resulting in Problems in Studying Global Inequality  Terms to distinguish nations on basis of economic development and standard of living  __________: rich, industrialized nations with capitalist economies and democratic systems  __________: countries with moderate economic development and standard of living  _________: countries with the lowest standards of living, shortest life expectancies, and highest rates of mortality.

© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved.  Low-income economies  Almost half of the world's population  People engage in agricultural pursuits in nonurban areas  Primarily in Asia and Africa  High level of feminization of poverty  Middle-income economies  1/3 of the world's population  Latin American countries; India, Russia, Romania, and Kazakhstan  Formerly socialist economies are transitioning to market economies  High-income economies  65 nations  United States, Canada, Japan, and Australia  Relatively high standard of living  Economic growth has slowed, in part, due to deindustrialization

© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Measuring Global Wealth and Poverty The World Bank has defined  Absolute poverty  Relative poverty  Measured by comparing one person’s income with the incomes of others  Subjective poverty can be measured by comparing the actual income against the income earner’s expectations and perceptions

© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Global Poverty and Human Development Issues  Life expectancy has increased globally.  The average life expectancy of people in low-income countries is as much as 30 years less than that of people in high income countries  Higher rates of infant mortality  Higher rates of infectious and parasitic illnesses  Educational attainment has increased for both men and women, but a large gap remains in many developing countries  According to the Human Development Report (2010), fewer people worldwide now lack basic reading and writing skills, but the illiteracy rate of older adults remains high  The gap between the poorest nations and middle-income nations has continued to widen  Poverty for women has continued to increase

© Copyright Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. Theories of Global Inequality Modernization theory is a perspective that links global inequality to different levels of economic development and suggests that low- income economies can move to middle- and high-income economies by achieving self-sustained economic growth. Dependency theory states that global poverty can at least partially be attributed to the fact that the low-income countries have been exploited by the high-income countries. The new international division of labor theory suggests that commodity production is being split into fragments that can be assigned to whichever part of the world can provide the most profitable combination of capital and labor.