SOCI 210: Sociological perspectives

Agenda

  1. Administrative
  2. Inequality on a global scale
  3. Globalization
  4. Theories of global inequality

Inequality
on a
global scale

Photo of a large yacht in dark water from directly above. The yacht features a parked helicopter and attached motorboat.

Global inequality

Aerial photo of the plce where three different agricultural crops meet. The crops are planted in circles, and the place where thy join forms a triangle with concave edges. The crops are all different colors. The circular tire track of the irrigation system is visible in the crops.

Implicit boundaries

  • Discussions of inequality imply the selection of a population
  • Most often, this is a political unit such as province or nation-state
  • Useful to understand, e.g., the effects of policies on inequality or to compare inequality under different governments

Global inequality

  • What if we look beyond these boundaries?

Global inequality

A scatter plot. Horizontal axis labeled 'Adult population'. vertical axis labeled 'Gini index (wealth)'. Each point represents a country, with about a dozen labeled. China and india are the largest countries, though India has considerably higher Gini than China. Kazakhstan and Ukraine have the highest Gini indexes, each close to 95. Temor-Leste and Slovakia have the lowest Gini indexes, both below 55. Caption at the bottom reads 'Source: Credit Suise Global Wealth Databook 2018'

Global inequality

A scatter plot. Horizontal axis labeled 'Adult population'. vertical axis labeled 'Gini index (wealth)'. Each point represents a country, with about a dozen labeled. China and india are the largest countries, though India has considerably higher Gini than China. Kazakhstan and Ukraine have the highest Gini indexes, each close to 95. Temor-Leste and Slovakia have the lowest Gini indexes, both below 55. A horizontal dashed line labeled 'World' is just above 90 on the vertical axis. Only three countries are higher than this line: Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Egypt. Caption at the bottom reads 'Source: Credit Suise Global Wealth Databook 2018'

Global inequality

First takeaway

  • Global inequality is severe and getting worse
  • The wealthy are getting (much) wealthier
  • The poor are getting (much) poorer
  • Exacerbated by COVID-19, during which the richest 10 people have doubled their wealth
    (Oxfam 2022; c.f. Klein 2015)
Chart labeled 'Billionaires who own the same wealth as half the world and the transport they would fit on'. Horizontal axis has years from 2010 to 2022. The line on the chart is labeled with numbers and simplified illustrations of different vehicles. in 2010, sthe number is 388 and the vehicle is a jumbo jet. in 2016 the number is 62 and the vehicle is a city bus. In 2020 there is no number and the vehicle is a minibus. The legend indicates that th eline represents 'Number of billionaires' from 2010 to 2016, and 'Projected number of billionaires from 2016 to 2022.

Second takeaway

  • The difference between the national frame and the global frame is not just one of scale
  • Inequality has a distinct character in a global context
A Pink 'Excalibur' Limo parked on a cobblestone street.

Today (< 15)

Globalization

Photograph of a black cable with yellow spiral stripe on a sandy beach. In the background, the cable descends into the ocean.

Globalization

Globalization is the process of national boundaries becoming less relevant as they become more “porous”

Money and goods

  • "Globalization" often refers just to the globalization of trade
  • Trend since the industrial revolution toward cross-national trade that is independent of state influence (taxes, restrictions, …)
  • Explosive growth in the second half of the 20th century
    Formal international agreements (NAFTA, EU, …)
    Rise of multinational and transnational corporations
  • Corporations become "locationless"

Information

  • Global communication (especially the Internet) has made it easier to interact across national boundaries
  • Harder for government to prevent international communication

People

  • Globalization traditionally meant fewer barriers for migration from country to country
  • In recent years, there has been a strong backlash and restrictions on many borders

Environment

  • Scale of global economy affects shared environment in meaningful, lasting ways
  • “Externalities” ignore national boundaries

Globalization and inequality

Photo of an ocean bay with mountains in the background. A floating river of colorful plastic garbage flows into the bay.

Globalization is not neutral toward global inequality

Trade

  • The history of colonialism is one of globalized trade reinforcing wealth disparity

Information

  • Those with the means to exploit globalized media have greater influence (marketing campaigns, political influence, etc.)

People

  • Migration is highly imbalanced, and state policies are designed to maintain power differences

Environment

  • The immediate and long-term negative effects of environmental transformation hit the poor hardest
    (Beck 2010)

Theories of global inequality

Photograph looking up at a tall generic office building. A blue sign is in front of the building with the logo fo the International Monetary Fund: a Shield with a map of the Earth and an olive branch, with the words 'International Monetary Fund' in a circle around it.

Theories of global inequality

Modernization theory

  • Nation-states are all on a path toward full modernization / industrialization
  • Inequality exists because some countries are “ahead” of others
  • Over time, the world will equalize as contrasts diminish
  • Ignores inter-dependence of nations
A simplified chart. Horizontal axis labeled 'Time', vertical axis labeled 'wealth'. The chart shows five different sigmoid curves that start at the bottom on the left side and move gradually toward the top on the right side. They are separated from each other by different amounts.

Theories of global inequality

Dependency theory

  • Wealthy nations keep poor nations dependent
    Manufacturing: raw materials extracted, finished goods sold
    Finance: World Bank and IMF use debt to maintain relationship
  • Relationship between wealthy and poor nations maintains inequality by design
  • Emergent from global colonial history
A simple diagram showing sevel circles connected by arrows. The arrows all move from the higher circles to the lower circles to form a directed acyclic graph.

Image credit

Photo of a large yacht in dark water from directly above. The yacht features a parked helicopter and attached motorboat.

Photo by Bobby Stevenson on Unsplash

Aerial photo of the plce where three different agricultural crops meet. The crops are planted in circles, and the place where thy join forms a triangle with concave edges. The crops are all different colors. The circular tire track of the irrigation system is visible in the crops.

Photo by Eddie Oosthuizen via Wikimedia

Chart labeled 'Billionaires who own the same wealth as half the world and the transport they would fit on'. Horizontal axis has years from 2010 to 2022. The line on the chart is labeled with numbers and simplified illustrations of different vehicles. in 2010, sthe number is 388 and the vehicle is a jumbo jet. in 2016 the number is 62 and the vehicle is a city bus. In 2020 there is no number and the vehicle is a minibus. The legend indicates that th eline represents 'Number of billionaires' from 2010 to 2016, and 'Projected number of billionaires from 2016 to 2022.

Image from Oxfam

A Pink 'Excalibur' Limo parked on a cobblestone street.

Photo by user kenjonbro on flickr

Photograph of a black cable with yellow spiral stripe on a sandy beach. In the background, the cable descends into the ocean.

Photo via datacenterdynamics.com

Photo of an ocean bay with mountains in the background. A floating river of colorful plastic garbage flows into the bay.

panaramka / iStock via Our Shared Seas

Photograph looking up at a tall generic office building. A blue sign is in front of the building with the logo fo the International Monetary Fund: a Shield with a map of the Earth and an olive branch, with the words 'International Monetary Fund' in a circle around it.

Reuters/Yuri Gripas via Al Jazeera