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?

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)

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

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 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)

Naturalization of inequality

• Beck (2010, p171)) discusses the naturalization of inequality as a result of climate change. What does he mean by that?
• Thinking back to our discussion on class boundaries and socioeconomic mobility, are there any other aspects of inequality (aside from climate change) in which naturalization plays a role?