Global Inequality | CH10
conspicuous consumption
Buying and using products because of the "statement" they make about social position
Fourth World Countries
Identification of the Indigenous groups between those countries, and inside nation-states and regions. Example: Amazonas
First World Countries
Industrialized nations based on a market economy and with democratically elected governments. United States and Japan
Functionalist Perspective on global inequality
Macroanalytical view: A functionalist might focus on why and what social purposes it serves. This view might assert, for example, that we have global inequality because some nations are better than others at adapting to new technologies and profiting from a globalized economy, and that when core nation companies locate in peripheral nations, they expand the local economy and benefit the workers.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
The amount of money needed in one country to purchase the same goods and services in another country. WHY. Calculating GNI PPP figures helps researchers accurately compare countries' standard of living. They allow the United Nations and Population Reference Bureau to compare and rank the wealth of all countries and consider international stratification issues
Third World Countries
The poorest, most undeveloped countries and included most of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia
Gross National Income (GNI)
The value of the output of goods and services produced in a country in a year, including money that leaves and enters the country. WHY. helps researchers accurately compare countries' standard of living. They allow the United Nations and Population Reference Bureau to compare and rank the wealth of all countries and consider international stratification issues
Global stratification
a comparison of the wealth, economic stability, status, and power of countries as a whole
global stratification
a comparison of the wealth, economic stability, status, and power of countries as a whole. Example, the wage gap.
absolute poverty
a lack of resources that is life-threatening) lives on less than $1.25 a day. about 17 percent of people in the developing world lived at or below $1.25 a day, a decrease of 26 percent compared to ten years ago, and an overall decrease of 35 percent compared to twenty years ago. A shocking number of people--88 million--live in absolute poverty, and close to 3 billion people live on less than $2.50 a day
GINI coefficient
a measure of income inequality between countries using a 100-point scale, in which 1 represents complete equality and 100 represents the highest possible inequality.(2007) in the northern part of the world and the mostly peripheral nations in the southern part of the world was 75.5 %.
Population Reference Bureau
annual report that measures the relative economic well-being of all the world's countries. It's called the Gross National Income (GNI) and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
Conflict theorists on social stratification
asserting that it benefits only some people, not all of society. For instance, to a conflict theorist, it seems wrong that a basketball player is paid millions for an annual contract while a public school teacher earns $35,000 a year. Karl Marx-bourgeois capitalists owned high-producing businesses, factories, and land, as they still do today. Proletariats were the workers who performed the manual labor to produce goods.
Melvin Tumin's argument
countered the Davis-Moore thesis in "Some Principles of Stratification: A Critical Analysis." Tumin questioned what determined a job's degree of importance. The Davis-Moore thesis does not explain, he argued, why a media personality with little education, skill, or talent becomes famous and rich on a reality show or a campaign trail. The thesis also does not explain inequalities in the education system or inequalities due to race or gender.
World Bank Economic Classification by Income
criticized, for its policies and its method of calculating data, but still a common source for global economic data, economy, demographics and environmental health to provide a complete picture of whether a nation is high income, middle income, or low income.
Core nation
dominant capitalist countries that exploit peripheral countries for labor and raw materials. They are strong in military power and not dependent on any one state or country.
Symbolic interactionism on social stratification
examines stratification from a micro-level perspective)In most communities, people interact primarily with others who share the same social standing. It is precisely because of social stratification that people associate with others like themselves, people who share their same income level, educational background, or racial background:conspicuous consumption.
Conflict theory on global inequality
focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality, and would likely address the systematic inequality created when core nations exploit the resources of peripheral nations. how many companies don't give health care.
GDP per capita
gross domestic product, a country's average national wealth per person. The GDP is calculated (usually annually) one of two ways: by totaling either the income of all citizens or the value of all goods and services produced in the country during the year. It also includes government spending. Because the GDP indicates a country's productivity and performance, comparing GDP rates helps establish a country's economic health in relation to other countries.
Peripheral nation
have very little industrialization: outdated castoffs of core nations or the factories and means of production owned by core nations. They typically have unstable governments, inadequate social programs, and are economically dependent on core nations for jobs and aid. Vietnam and Cuba
Second World Countries
in-between category: nations not as limited in development as the third world, but not as well off as the first world, having moderate economies and standard of living, such as China or Cuba
Semi-peripheral nations
in-between nations, not powerful enough to dictate policy but acting as a major source of raw materials and an expanding middle class marketplace
Cold War terminology
it classifies countries into first world, second world, and third world nations based on their respective economic development and standards of living. Cold War era (1945-1980)
Middle-Income Nations
nations that are newly industrialized and have moderate wealth and living standards. GNI per capita of more than $1,045 but less than $12,746.
Low-Income Nations
nations that are poor, agrarian, and benefit least from their participation in the global economy. 2013, the average per capita GNI was $528 per capita and the total population was 796,261,360, with 28 percent located in urban areas. For example, Myanmar, Ethiopia, and Somalia are considered low-income countries. Low-income economies are primarily found in Asia and Africa
Relative poverty
poverty defined according to the living standards of the majority in any given society
Deindustrialization
process by which companies move industrial jobs to other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly deindustrialized region to switch to a service economy and to work through a period of high unemployment
symbolic interaction perspective on global inequality
studies the day-to-day impact of global inequality: Someone applying this view to global inequality would probably focus on understanding the difference between what someone living in a core nation defines as poverty (relative poverty, defined as being unable to live the lifestyle of the average person in your country) and what someone living in a peripheral nation defines as poverty (absolute poverty)
Millennium Project
the UN implemented an attempt to cut poverty worldwide by the year 2015. To reach the project's goal, planners in 2006 estimated that industrialized nations must set aside 0.7 percent of their gross national income—the total value of the nation's good and service, plus or minus income received from and sent to other nations—to aid in developing countries
debt accumulation
the buildup of external debt, wherein countries borrow money from other nations to fund their expansion or growth goals
noblesse oblige
the duty of upper classes to take responsibility for the welfare of the lower classes
Davis-Moore thesis
the functional analysis claiming that social stratification has beneficial consequences for the operation of society. Example, a grocery store cashier's. The cashier position does not require the same skill and training level as firefighting. Without the incentive of higher pay and better benefits, why would someone be willing to rush into burning buildings?
Capital flight
the movement (flight) of capital from one nation to another, via jobs and resources
gross national income (GNI) per capita
the sum of a country's gross domestic product plus all net income received from overseas, divided by the mid-year population
global inequality
the systematic differences in wealth and power among countries. report that suggested the richest eighty-five people in the world are worth more than the poorest 3.5 billion combined.