Sociology Ch. 10

According to the World Bank, what is the gross national income minimum for a nation to be defined as a high-income nation?

$12,276

According to the World Bank, what is the gross national income range for a nation to be defined as an upper middle income country?

$3,976 to $12,275

What are the three main causes of global feminization?

(1) The expansion of female-headed households (2) The persistence and consequences of intra-household inequalities and biases against women (3) The implementation of neoliberal economic policies around the world

According to the World Bank, what is the gross national income maximum for a nation to be defined as a low-income country?

$1,005

According to the World Bank, what is the gross national income range for a nation to be defined as a lower middle income country?

$1,006 to $3,975

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)

Example of how a core nation is able to leverage its power to gain the most advantageous position in the matter of global trade

Conflict theory of global inequality

Focuses on the creation and reproduction of inequality; would likely address the systematic inequality created when core nations exploit the resources of peripheral nations

Functionalist view of global inequality

Focuses on the way that all aspects of society are integral to the continued health and viability of the whole; might focus on why we have global inequality and what social purposes it serves

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Goals set by UN member nations to provide a practical and specific plan for eradicating extreme poverty around the world; 200 countries signed on, and 21 targets were developed

Semi-peripheral nations

In-between nations, not powerful enough to dictate policy but nevertheless acting as a major source for raw material and an expanding middle-class marketplace for core nations (Ex: Mexico)

Core nations

Dominant capitalist countries, highly industrialized, technological, and urbanized

Global Inequality

Involves the concentration of resources in certain nations, significantly affecting the opportunities of individuals in poorer and less powerful countries

Modernization Theory

Low-income countries are affected by their lack of industrialization and can improve their global economic standing through (1) an adjustment of cultural values and attitudes to work (2) industrialization and other forms of economic growth

Who coined the term fourth world?

Manual Castells

What are the two most widely applied perspectives on global stratification?

Modernization theory and dependency theory

Peripheral Nations

Nations on the fringes of the global economy, dominated by core nations, with very little industrialization (ex: Guatemala, Bangladesh, Malaysia, or Colombia)

According to the World Bank, what is the monetary value of each day for someone who is considered to live in absolute poverty?

One dollar a day

(2nd consequence of poverty) effect on physical and mental health

Poor people face physical health challenges, including malnutrition and high infant mortality rates; mental health is also detrimentally affected by the emotional stresses of poverty

"The sedimentation of global inequality" (1st consequence of poverty)

Relates to the fact that once poverty becomes entrenched in an area, it is typically very difficult to reverse.

Fourth world countries

Stigmatized minority groups that are denied a political voice all over the globe (indigenous minority populations, prisoners, the homeless, etc.)

Third world countries

Term from the Cold War era that refers to the poorest, most undeveloped/unindustrialized countries (such as Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia)

Second world countries

Term from the cold war era that describes nations with moderate economies and standards of living (such as China or Cuba)

Debt Accumulation

The buildup of external debt, wherein countries borrow money from other nations to fund their expansion or growth goals

Deindustrialization

The loss of industrial production, usually to peripheral and semi-peripheral nations where the costs are lower

Capital Flight

The movement (flight) of capital from one nation to another, via jobs and resources

Relative Poverty

The state of poverty where one is unable to live the lifestyle of the average person in the country

Absolute poverty

The state where one is barely able, or unable, to afford basic necessities

Dependency theory

Theory which states that global inequity is due to the exploitation of peripheral and semi-peripheral nations by core nations; created in response to western-centric mindset of modernization theory

What were the eight categories of the goals from the MDGs?

To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; to achieve universal primary education; to promote gender equality and empower women; to reduce child mortality; to improve maternal health; to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability; to develop a global partnership for development

Global stratification

Unequal distribution of resources between countries

Immanuel Wallerstein's world systems approach

Uses an economic basis to understand global inequality; conceived the global economy as a complex system supporting an economic hierarchy that placed some nations in positions of power with numerous resources and other nations in a state of economic subordination

Debt Bondage

When people pledge themselves as servants in exchange for money for passage, and are subsequently paid too little to regain their freedom

Gross national income (GNI)

the income of a nation calculated based on goods and services produced, plus income earned by citizens and corporations headquartered in that country

How many defined consequences of poverty are there?

3

Chattel Slavery

A form of slavery in which one person owns another

Global Feminization

A pattern that occurs when women bear a disproportionate percentage of the burden of poverty

Subjective poverty

A state of poverty composed of many dimensions, subjectively present when one's actual income does not meet one's expectations

First world countries

A term from the Cold War era that is used to describe industrialized capitalist democracies (such as the U.S. and Japan)

What continent holds majority of the poorest countries of the world?

Africa

Underground economy

An unregulated economy of labor and goods that operates outside of governance, regulatory systems, or human protections

What are the two major issues facing high-income countries?

Capital flight and deindustrialization

noblesse oblige

first world responsibility; suggests that the so-termed developed nations should provide foreign aid to the less-developed and underdeveloped nations in order to raise their standard of living