This document discusses different approaches to conceptualizing global stratification and inequality between nations. It begins by defining global stratification as a ranked system of inequality among nations that has emerged with globalization. It then outlines several approaches: the "Three Worlds" approach divides nations into First, Second, and Third Worlds based on levels of industrialization (post-WWII); the Levels of Development approach views economic development as key to solving poverty; and the Levels of Income approach used by the World Bank categorizes nations as low, middle, or high-income based on GNI per capita. The document also discusses poverty, human development indicators, and correlates of global poverty such as technology, population growth, and gender inequality.

1. Principles of Sociology 12
Global Stratification

2. Basics
• global stratification = a ranked system of inequality
among the world’s nations that has come about
with globalization processes.
• The entire world is divided into segments much like
the social classes that we previously studied in the
United States.
• While some progress has been made toward
changing global inequalities, the positive changes
are meager compared to the vast efforts and money
that have been devoted to attempted solutions.

4. Different Approaches
• The “Three Worlds” Approach (Post-WWII):
– First World nations = democratic capitalist nations that had
undergone industrialization (EX: U.S.; Japan; Britain).
– Second World nations = nations with a moderate level of economic
development and standard of living (EX: China; Cuba; Soviet Russia).
– Third World nations = poorest countries without significant
industrialization (many countries in Africa, Latin America, and
Southeast Asia).
• Lowest standards of living.
• Shortest life spans.
• Highest mortality rates.

5. Different Approaches
• The Levels of Development Approach:
– Assumed that economic development was the key to solving the
problems of the poorest nations.
– The western nations were seen as “developed,” while nations in the
southern hemisphere were seen as “underdeveloped.”
– Underdeveloped nations were defined as such based on their low
gross national income (GNI) = everything produced in a nation
annually plus net income earned outside the nation by individuals
and corporations.
– Today, increased GNI levels have not fixed these problems, and we
are now aware of other factors (like population growth).

6. Different Approaches
• The Levels of Income Approach (World Bank):
– Low-Income economies = little industrialization.
• nonurban, agricultural, impoverished.
• In 2013, about 20 nations primarily in Asia and Africa.
• Women and children are especially affected.
– Middle-Income economies = industrializing economies, mainly in
urban areas.
• About one-third of the world.
• Divided into lower-middle and upper-middle incomes.
– High-Income economies = fully industrialized.
• Dominate the world economy.
• However, some affected by capital flight and deindustrialization.

7. Global Wealth & Poverty
• absolute poverty = living without being able to acquire
the most basic necessities for survival.
– Measured as living on less than $1.25/day.
• relative poverty = basic necessities can be afforded, but
the ability to maintain an average standard of living is
lacking.
– Measured by comparing one’s income with the income levels
of others.
• subjective poverty = based on the earner’s perceptions
and expectations.

8. Poverty & Human Development
• In 1990, the United Nations introduced the
Human Development Index (HDI), which
established three new factors – besides GNI –
that determined a nation’s level of development:
– Life Expectancy rates.
– Education levels.
– Living standards.

9. Poverty & Human Development
• Life Expectancy:
– The life span a person can expect to live decreases
significantly in lower-HDI countries.
– One reason is the greater infant mortality rate = the number
of deaths per every 1,000 live births annually.
• Health:
– Contagious diseases and viruses remain a problem in many
low-HDI nations.
– Low and middle-income countries are now beginning to
experience tobacco related illnesses, as 80% of the world’s
smokers now reside in these nations.

10. Poverty & Human Development
• Education & Literacy:
– Education is linked to improved life chances.
– Education has improved throughout the world.
– Although the majority of the world now has basic literacy skills,
over 123 million young people still cannot read or write.
– Although the literacy rate is rising quickly for women, they still
represent over two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population.
• Persistent Gaps:
– Despite significant gains around the world, nearly 2 billion people –
mostly women and children – continue to struggle with poverty,
hunger, and overpopulation.

11. Poverty & Human Development
• Is poverty life-threatening?
–In some African and Asian countries, half of
annual deaths are children under age of 10.
–Every 10 minutes, 100 people die of hunger,
about 25,000 people a day.
–1.4 billion people suffer from chronic hunger
in the world.

12. Poverty & Children
• 100 million children in poor countries are forced to
work the streets (e.g., beg, steal, sell sex).
• Tens of millions of children are orphaned or have
left their families and live on the streets.
• Many girls, with little or no access to medical
assistance, become pregnant.
• Tens of millions of children fend for themselves
every day on the streets of poor cities where many
fall victim to disease, drug abuse, and violence.

13. Poverty & Women
• In all societies, a woman's work is unrecognized,
undervalued, and underpaid.
• Sweatshop workers are mostly women.
• 70% of the world's 1 billion people living near
absolute poverty are women.
• Most women in poor countries receive little or no
reproductive health care.
• World's poorest women typically give birth without
help from a trained health care personnel.

14. Correlates of Global Poverty
• Technology: about one-fourth of the people in low-income
countries use human or animal power to farm land.
• Population Growth: population for poor countries in Africa
doubles every 25 years.
• Cultural Patterns: some resist innovations, and accept
slavery as a way of life.
• Social Stratification: low-income countries distribute wealth
very unequally.
• Gender Inequality: raising living standards means improving
women's standing.
• Global Power Relationships: historically, wealth flowed from
poor societies to rich nations through colonialism …

15. Correlates of Global Poverty
• colonialism = a foreign power maintaining political, social,
economic, and cultural domination over a people for an
extended period.
– This occurred all over the world during the 19th and early 20th
centuries, as Western Europe and the U.S. dominated other nations.
• neo-colonialism = left-over, continuing dependence and
exploitation maintained by the formerly controlled nation
being put in a dependent position.
• globalization = the worldwide integration of government,
culture, society, and economy (dominated by the West).

16. Understanding Colonialism
From the 1700s until the 1990s, western nations dominated non-western nations
around the world.
• EXs: the British dominated Egypt, India, and South Africa; Belgium dominated
Rwanda; etc.
Although direct colonialism ended, western powers had essentially scrambled
eggs all over the world – and you cannot unscramble eggs. Thus, left-over
dominate/subordinate patterns remain (neo-colonialism).

17. Understanding Globalization
• Essentially, globalization is the growth of world
economic, political, and cultural interdependence.
• Our world has moved progressively from a
collection of very independent entities (such as
nations) to a “global village” where we are all
interconnected in many ways – through technology,
through international trade and commerce, and
through cultural diffusion.
• Globalization represents its own reality with its own
processes that impact both macro and micro levels
of society.

18. Modernization Theory
• Modernization theory is based on the social progressivism of classical
sociologists like Tönnies and Durkheim, who saw the shift to a more
industrialized, urban society as a move forward.
– In this view, advancing beyond traditional ideas and arrangements is a
good thing.
– Thus, the developing world simply needs to “follow the leader,” as it were,
casting off tradition and embracing the modern world.
• Global competition among manufacturing companies has created an
international race “downward” – i.e., a race to find the cheapest pools
of labor to manufacture products.
• This quest for cheap labor on the part of western nations is a good
thing, producing an increased need for labor in developing nations –
i.e., this competition creates jobs for the poor.

19. Evaluating Modernization Theory
• Modernization simply has not happened in many
poor countries.
– Theory fails to recognize how rich nations benefit from
the status quo of poor nations.
– Theory fails to recognize that international relations
affect all nations.
– This approach is ethnocentric because it holds up the
richest nations as the standard to judge other societies.
– Blames global poverty on the poor societies.

20. Dependency Theory
• This theory is inspired originally by Marxist conflict theory.
• The wealthy, industrialized nations of the West initiated a
global system of inequality during the era of colonialism, and
this system continues with neo-colonialism.
• Thus, underdevelopment in the developing nations is the
result of a system of dominance by western nations and the
dependency created by it.
• internal colonialism = the dominance of wealthier companies
or portions of the government over others within a developing
nation due to the company’s economic link to the global
system of inequality.

21. Dependency Theory
• Although there is economic growth in developing nations,
Dependency theorists distinguish between:
 economic growth = simple growth that usually has little impact on the
poor of the nation (may impact prosperity only at elite levels).
 economic development = includes broad participation and the
enhancement of the general conditions of the nation (impacts everyone).
• Economic growth does not necessarily translate into economic
development.
• Industrial growth is proceeding at a much slower pace in the
developing world, largely through imported technology from the
West – unfortunately, this situation destroys the need for labor.

22. Dependency Theory
• Historical Perspective:
– People living in poor countries were better off in the past than they are
now.
– Economic positions of rich and poor nations of the world are linked and
cannot be understood apart from each other.
• Some nations became rich only because others became poor.
• Importance of Colonialism:
– Europeans colonized much west, south and east.
– African slave trade is the most brutal form of human exploitation.
– Neocolonialism is the “essence” of the modern capitalistic world economy.

23. World System Theory
• Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-present) formulated a theory
that is a useful revision of political economy theory because
it accounts for global mobility among nations while
preserving the aspect of inequality.
 Core nations: those nations with the wealth and power that control the
emerging global economy.
 Periphery nations: the poor nations exploited for their raw materials and labor.
 Semi-Periphery nations: nations experiencing either downward mobility from
the core or upward mobility from the periphery.
 External nations: nations somehow managing to continue their existence
isolated from the emerging global economy (no longer relevant).

25. Evaluating World System Theory
• Wrongly treats wealth as a zero-sum game.
• Wrongly blames rich nations for global poverty.
• Wrongly presents a simplistic model by citing
capitalism as the single factor.
• Offers inaccurate claim that global trade always
benefits rich nations.
• Provides more protest than policy.

26. MODERNIZATION POLITICAL ECONOMY
SOURCE
Capitalism – dependence on a free
market (the “Invisible Hand”).
A modified Marxist perspective on
economic inequality.
URBANIZATION Positives > Negatives Negatives > Positives
INDUSTRIALIZATION Would be widespread and provide
employment.
Only a few developing nations have
actually experienced significant
industrialization.
ECONOMIC GROWTH
Since urban and rural interests
share a common future with
common interests, economic
growth = economic development.
Since urban and rural interests
ultimately reflect the inequality of the
global system in which they are
situated, some get wealthy while the
poor stay poor – economic growth ≠
economic development.
TECHNOLOGY
Goes along with industrialization
and increases the workforce
(creates jobs).
Decreases the need for labor
(eliminates jobs).
URBAN INVESTMENTS Ultimately, everyone prospers. Simply enhances domination and
exploitation of the poor.

27. Transnational Corporations
• transnational corporations = commercial
organizations headquartered in one country but
doing business globally.
• Multinational businesses represent economies
large enough to compete with entire nations.
• Over 10% of all goods and services in the United
States relates directly to import/export
processes.

28. Transnational Corporations
• Further, major corporations now represent free-
floating entities in the world:
– Maintaining budgets the size of small countries.
– Owing no allegiance to any nation.
– Building factories wherever labor is cheapest
(sometimes called “sweat shops”).
– Taking advantage of the raw materials in the
developing world.