1. Chapter 8: Global Inequality
We’ve spent some time now thinking about inequality and systems of stratification. Today we’ll widen our view a bit, and I will talk about what inequality looks like on a global scale.
Chapter 8: Global Inequality

2. The big issues Inequality between and within countries
Theories of global inequality
What inequality looks like around the world
How global inequality affects us
Let’s start with some of the big questions that we’ll address:
We’ll begin by thinking about inequality both between and within countries. In other words, we need to explore the idea that there is a kind of global hierarchy of countries, but that within every one of those countries there is also a local hierarchy to consider.
Next I’ll address the question of how, as sociologists, we can better understand what causes global inequality, what reproduces the status quo, and what might lead to shifts.
Once we have a sense of how we might explain inequality on a global level, we should consider what it actually looks like. As such I will spend a bit of time outlining some of the characteristics of the poorest people and countries, which we can, implicitly at least, compare to our own existence here in the United States.
Finally, we need to consider how global inequality affects us. As citizens of the wealthiest country on earth, it might be easy to say that poverty elsewhere is not our problem. But as the world is becoming increasingly global, this simply is not the case.

3. Globalization
Globalization is a process of increased interconnectedness, especially in terms of economics, politics, and culture.
Globalization has led to massive wealth for some, while others are left further and further behind.
Before getting into global inequality, it seems important to give a nod to a concept that now drives much of the research in this area: globalization. Globalization is actually an ongoing process of interconnectedness between nations, multinational corporations (MNCs), international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and individuals. Globalization is organized both formally (through organizations like the United Nations) and informally (through, for example, pirated Hollywood movies sold around the world), and is taking place particularly as concerns economics, politics, and culture.
Globalization has led to a growing gap between those who have access and opportunities by which to thrive and those who do not. There are now 793 billionaires (as of 2009)—representing an essentially unimaginable amount of wealth. At the same time, there are millions of workers laboring in conditions we would likely consider inhumane, and doing so for starvation level wages. And still, there are those who do not even have access to jobs whose conditions are even worse. 3

4. Global inequality
Systematic differences in wealth and power between countries; significant systems of stratification exist within countries as well.
Per person gross national income (GNI) ) is used as a measure of global inequality.
High: $11,906+
Middle: $976–11,905
Low: $975 or less
Now, it’s important to point out that globalization does not need to be synonymous with global inequality. So far the two have been closely interrelated, but that does not have to be the case.
Let me take a moment and describe our current system of global stratification. Just as in our own society, we have higher and lower classes, in the world, there are countries that are higher and lower in the rankings. One measure of global inequality used by INGOs like the World Bank is called per person gross national income (GNI). The scale for considering global inequality is broken down into high, middle, and low per person GNI, as you can see here:
High -- $11,906+
Middle -- $976-11,905
Low -- <$976
In 2006 the United States had a per person GNI of $44,710 (per the World Bank).

5. Global inequality Comparing Quality of Life Among Countries $524
LOW-INCOME
COUNTRIES
MEDIUM-INCOME
COUNTRIES
HIGH-INCOME
COUNTRIES
WORLD
GROSS NATIONAL INCOME PER CAPITA
(Current U.S. $)
$524
$3,260
$39,345
$8,613
TOTAL
POPULATION
Infographic exercises:
What is the difference in gross national income per capita between low-income countries high-income countries?
Which type of country has the largest total population?
Which type of country has the smallest annual population growth?
973
million
4,651
million
1,069
million
6,692
million
ANNUAL POPULATION GROWTH
2.1%
1.1%
0.7%
1.2%
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
SOURCE: World Bank 2009b. 5 5

6. Global inequality Comparing Quality of Life Among Countries 59 years
LOW-INCOME
COUNTRIES
MEDIUM-INCOME
COUNTRIES
HIGH-INCOME
COUNTRIES
WORLD
LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH
59 years
69 years
79 years
69 years
TOTAL
POPULATION
Infographic exercises:
Which type of country has a lower life expectancy at birth that the average for the world?
Which type of country has higher fertility and mortality rates than the average for the world? 4
births per woman
2.4
births per woman
1.8
births per woman
2.5
births per woman
ANNUAL POPULATION GROWTH
120
per 1,000 58
per 1,000 7
per 1,000 68
per 1,000
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
SOURCE: World Bank 2009b. 6 6

7. Figure 8.2 GNI per Person in Low- , Middle- , and
High-Income Countries, 1983– 2008
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

8. Explaining global inequality
Four primary approaches:
Market theories
Dependency theories
World System Analysis
State-centered theories
What explains the growing disparity between the haves and have-nots? Sociologists have four basic approaches to explaining different aspects of global inequality, and I’ll talk about each in turn:
Market-based theories
Dependency theories
World System Analysis
State-centered theories

9. Market theories
Free markets are seen as the best path for optimal global development.
Low government intervention should be coupled with “free,” unconstrained individual action.
Example: Rostow’s modernization theory
We’ll start with market-based theories. Those working within this tradition are mostly interested in explaining how to optimize growth; there is less attention paid to explaining current inequality, except for a constant refrain of the necessity of freeing the markets. Market theories tend to be argued mostly by economists, with some sociologists accompanying them.
Let me briefly walk you through an example from your textbook: W. W. Rostow’s modernization theory. (Just as an aside, you should know that there are many versions of modernization theory, so it’s important to be clear whose work you’re discussing.) Essentially, Rostow made the case, in the 1960s, that economic growth requires the adoption of “modern” culture and values. Countries that hold on to tribal or localistic cultures—which he claimed are more fatalistic and less aligned with values connected with market growth—will not develop sophisticated industries or markets and will not become consumer societies. He saw their governments as interventionist and constraining; an impediment to development. As a result, these countries will not grow. Rostow outlined a path to growth, via modernization, that would counter these barriers.
This basic approach continues to dominate in economics today, but most sociologists resist the strongly ethnocentric approach, which puts much faith in “markets” and little faith in people, social institutions, or social structures.

10. Dependency theories
The theories are a rejection of market theories, built on Marxian ideas.
Global inequality is seen as the result of exploitation by wealthy countries and other international players (INGOs and MNCs).
Global inequality stemmed from colonialism and has been reinforced by global trade and finance.
Dependency theories are, in a sense, a reaction to, and rejection of ,market-based theories. Those doing work in this vein begin with a different host of assumptions—namely, that markets are not free and that they do not fix inequality. Additionally, the questions answered by dependency theory are a bit different. In this approach, a great deal of attention is paid to explaining why global inequality looks the way it does.
The answer goes back to the development of a colonial system that profited home countries at the expense of the colonies. Colonizers were able to obtain cheap raw materials while, in effect, forcing colonies to purchase expensive manufactured goods. Once the colonies were freed, industries (“the market”) moved in and carried on this arrangement for their own benefit.
Dependency theorists believe that the only way to alter this arrangement is a revolutionary overthrow of the system of industry and finance that has lower-income countries locked into their current situation of dependence on outside resources for assistance.

11. World System Analysis
Developed in 1970s by Immanuel Wallerstein, World System Analysis (WSA) sees the entire world economy as one system.
There are core, peripheral, and semi-peripheral nations whose uneven balance of wealth and power defines the current order.
Without debt relief, the system will be nearly impossible to change.
World System Analysis, a newer response to market theories, begins with the same history but maintains its emphasis on states, as opposed to shifting focus to MNCs.
Immanuel Wallerstein, who was one of the most important thinkers in this approach, wanted to be clear that global inequality was not due to defects in local culture, but rather to the unequal relations between core, peripheral, and semi-peripheral nations. The perspective’s name—World Systems Analysis—comes from the insistence that we must look beyond just markets or just states, and see that these are not separable but rather part of a single world system.
Core nations are virtually the same countries as the colonizers described in dependency theory; they established themselves early on as the masters of the capitalist system. Peripheral nations, again, lining up with the formerly colonized, are left in a situation of dependency that will be nearly impossible to change without a radical solution, such as debt relief. Without debt relief, the cycle of need for cash, offering incentives to industries, and failing to develop continues. There are occasional examples of countries climbing out of this situation, but in general, the pattern holds.

12. State-centered theories
This approach emphasizes the necessary and constructive role of government intervention in economic development and global markets.
This is in stark contrast to market theories.
It developed in large part from studies of the rapid development of East Asian economies at the end of the twentieth century.
Once again, we’re looking at a perspective that takes issue with the market-based approach. State-centered theories take the position—a more overtly political one—that states are needed to regulate markets and to assist in mediating, if not ending, inequality. Proponents of state-centered theories of global inequality, like market-based theorists, are interested in what will change the current pattern. This time, the answer is diametrically opposed, insisting on the importance of government intervention instead of free markets.
Much of the work in this field looks at the rapid development and economic growth that took place in the newly industrializing economies (NIEs) of East Asia. A critique of this approach is that it tends to ignore the intense social regulations that have come with much of this growth.
For your notes: there is a very helpful one page wrap-up of these four theoretical perspectives I’ve been talking about in your textbook. Looking at all four together and thinking about how each contributes something may be a useful way of understanding each.

13. Where does change lead? In both positive and negative directions:
Prosperity
Consumption
Exploitation (and further inequality)
Repression
Enhanced role in new global order
One of the interesting questions that has been asked in the wake of the emergence of several East Asian nations out of the lowest tier of countries is where all that change may lead. In other words, what happens in countries that experience rapid economic growth?
The value of some of these things is debatable, but most of us would likely agree that prosperity and greater status in the global system are good things. It’s what comes with a new, fast-growing economy that worries some. There is concern about exploitation and internal inequality, along with increased government repression to maintain these new advantages. The development of increased consumerism certainly has both plusses and minuses, which perhaps we can talk about for a few minutes. What do you think the benefits of higher consumption might be? What problems might be association with it?

14. Basic markers of inequality
The majority of the world’s poor are illiterate.
One-third are undernourished.
More than 40 percent of all urban-dwellers in developing countries live in slums.
The poor have worse health, die younger, and have significantly higher rates of infant and child mortality.
All right, let’s shift gears a bit. I’ve been talking for a while now about inequality, but from a fairly abstract, macro-level point of view. Let’s think for just a few minutes about some of the ways we typically think about inequality and actual people.
[Walk through these facts and get responses.]
Now let’s think back for just a moment to questions about the downsides of, for example, consumerism: I suspect if the only alternative to abject, absolute poverty was consumerism, we would choose it. But why limit our imaginations in that way? One of the joys of sociology is to attempt to identify other possible outcomes and imagine what they might be like. Do these outcomes exist anywhere? Explain your answer.

15. What will globalization bring?
There are many potential scenarios:
Ever-increasing polarization between haves and have-nots
New opportunities for everyone
Entrenched technological divide
There is room for optimism and pessimism; change will certainly affect us all.
This brings us to this question of what globalization will bring. Current predictions range from increased inequality to new opportunities for everyone. To really think about what globalization will offer, we must also think about how all levels of actors—from individuals to businesses to states to INGOs—will participate. Will those of us in higher-income nations seek to include those in lower tiers in the wealth and resources we take for granted? Some fear that if we do not, we create a potentially revolutionary class in a world that contains powerful weapons—literal and figurative—that could change everything. Others see benefits in maintaining a stratified world.
Whatever happens, it will be happening to all of us. Globalization has changed the world in ways that we, as members currently at the top of the heap, may not see. The next time you hear about the rise of China, think back to some of these questions.

16. Chapter 8: Global Inequality
That’s it for our discussion on global inequality. Our next chapter examines a different kind of inequality, but one that you’ve all thought about at least a bit: gender inequality.

17. Clicker Questions
1. What is the trend of global inequality? a. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. b. The rich get poorer, the poor get richer. c. The gap between rich and poor countries has remained the same. d. There is no clear trend of global inequality.
Answer: A
Ref: What Is Global Inequality?, pp. 218–219 17

18. Clicker Questions
2. According to state-centered development theory, why have some regions of the world been so successful in developing their economies in recent years? a. The political and military power of rich nations has contributed to the repression of opposition and the promotion of business interests in these regions because there is a direct benefit to them. b. Appropriate government policies are the key because they ensure political stability, lower labor costs, and provide social services that promote economic development. c. People in these regions have begun to lose their traditional orientation to life and adopted a way of life that is more consistent with economic development. d. Global commodity chains have helped to upgrade the economies of these regions, thereby making them more competitive.
Answer: B
Ref: How Do Sociological Theories Explain Global Inequality?, p State-centered theories argue that appropriate government policies do not interfere with economic development but rather can play a key role in bringing it about. The World Bank concludes that without an effective state, “sustainable development, both economic and social, is impossible.”

19. Clicker Questions
3. According to world-systems theory, why are core nations wealthy? a. They possess the richest natural resources. b. Their cultures are characterized by the optimal set of attitudes and values. c. They have been able to control the economies of peripheral and semi-peripheral countries for their own economic advantage. d. They are technology innovators rather than technology adopters.
Answer: C
Ref: How Do Sociological Theories Explain Global Inequality?, p Core countries are the most advanced industrial countries, and they take the lion’s share of profits in the world economic system and manipulating peripheral and semi-peripheral countries to their economic advantage.

20. Clicker Questions
4. What is the trend of global inequality? a. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer. b. The rich get poorer, the poor get richer. c. The gap between rich and poor countries has remained the same. d. There is no clear trend of global inequality.
Answer: A
Ref: What Is Global Inequality?, pp. 218–219

21. Clicker Questions
5. The political economic system by which more powerful nations take possession of less powerful ones in order to gain control of both natural resources and local markets is called: a. domination. b. colonialism. c. co-dependency. d. modernization.
Answer: B
Ref: How Do Sociological Theories Explain Global Inequality?, p. 228

22. Art Presentation Slides
Chapter 8
Global Inequality
Anthony Giddens
Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum
Deborah Carr

23. Chapter Opener Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
Chapter Opener

24. The billionaire Carlos Slim is an example of the many
Super rich who accumulated tremendous wealth through
investment in technology and telecommunications.
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

25. Global inequality Comparing Quality of Life Among Countries $524
LOW-INCOME
COUNTRIES
MEDIUM-INCOME
COUNTRIES
HIGH-INCOME
COUNTRIES
WORLD
GROSS NATIONAL INCOME PER CAPITA
(Current U.S. $)
$524
$3,260
$39,345
$8,613
TOTAL
POPULATION
Infographic exercises:
What is the difference in gross national income per capita between low-income countries high-income countries?
Which type of country has the largest total population?
Which type of country has the smallest annual population growth?
973
million
4,651
million
1,069
million
6,692
million
ANNUAL POPULATION GROWTH
2.1%
1.1%
0.7%
1.2%
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
SOURCE: World Bank 2009b. 25

26. Global inequality Comparing Quality of Life Among Countries 59 years
LOW-INCOME
COUNTRIES
MEDIUM-INCOME
COUNTRIES
HIGH-INCOME
COUNTRIES
WORLD
LIFE EXPECTANCY AT BIRTH
59 years
69 years
79 years
69 years
TOTAL
POPULATION
Infographic exercises:
Which type of country has a lower life expectancy at birth that the average for the world?
Which type of country has higher fertility and mortality rates than the average for the world? 4
births per woman
2.4
births per woman
1.8
births per woman
2.5
births per woman
ANNUAL POPULATION GROWTH
120
per 1,000 58
per 1,000 7
per 1,000 68
per 1,000
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
SOURCE: World Bank 2009b. 26

27. Map 8.1 Rich and Poor Countries: The World by Income, 2007
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

28. Figure 8.2 GNI per Person in Low- , Middle- , and
High-Income Countries, 1983– 2008
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

29. Nkonge Mata, a 10- year- old displaced
Congolese boy, sits in a clinic run by the medical
charity Medecins Sans Frontieres
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

30. Hong Kong along with Taiwan, South Korea, and
Singapore, have become some of the most rapidly
growing economies on Earth.
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

31. Globalization and Everyday Life
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
Globalization and Everyday Life

32. Globalization and Everyday Life
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
Globalization and Everyday Life

33. Although Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest producer of oil
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company
Although Nigeria is the world’s eighth largest producer of oil

34. Female workers make Barbie dolls at a toy factory
in the Guangdong province of China.
Essentials Of Sociology, 3rd Edition
Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

35. The Skeens in Pearland, Texas and the Castillo Balderas in
Guadalajara, Mexico are both considered middle class families in
their respective communities. Do you think they would have
the same attitudes about capitalism and poverty?
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Copyright © W.W. Norton & Company

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This concludes the Art Presentation Slides
Slide Set for Chapter 8
Essentials Of Sociology
THIRD EDITION by
Anthony Giddens
Mitchell Duneier
Richard P. Appelbaum
Deborah Carr