Transcript Chapter 7 Class And Stratification In The United States

Chapter 7
Global Stratification
Chapter Outline









What Is Social Stratification?
Global Systems of Stratification
Wealth and Poverty in Global Perspective
Problems in Studying Global Inequality
Classification of Economies by Income
Measuring Global Wealth and Poverty
Global Poverty and Human Development Issues
Theories of Global Inequality
Global Inequality in the Future
Social Stratification


Hierarchy of social groups based on their
control over resources.
Sociologists examine social groups that make
up the hierarchy in a society and seek to
determine how inequalities persist over time.
Life Chances



Access to social resources such as food,
clothing, shelter, education, and health care.
Affluent people have greater access to quality
education, safe neighborhoods, nutrition and
health care, police protection, and other goods
and services.
Persons with low- and poverty-level incomes
tend to have limited access to these resources.
Open and Closed Systems of
Stratification


In an open system, boundaries between
levels in the hierarchies are flexible and may
be influenced by people’s achieved statuses.
In a closed system, boundaries between
levels in the hierarchies are rigid, and people’s
positions are set by ascribed status.
Slavery



Extreme form of stratification in which some
people are owned by others.
Throughout recorded history 5 societies have
been slave societies: ancient Greece, Roman
Empire, United States, Caribbean and Brazil.
Today, there are an estimated 27 million people
held as slaves worldwide – most are held in
bonded labor in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh,
and Nepal.
Caste System



Status is determined at birth based on parents’
ascribed characteristics.
Cultural beliefs and values sustain caste
systems and caste systems grow weaker as
societies industrialize.
Vestiges of caste systems often remain for
hundreds of years beyond the period in which
they are “officially” abolished.
Income Gap Between the World’s
Richest and Poorest People


1960 - Highest income 20% of the world’s
population received $30 for each dollar
received by the lowest income 20%.
2000 - Disparity had increased: $74 to $1.
Classification of Economies by
Income


The World Bank focuses on people, the
environment, and the economy.
Classifies nations into 3 categories:
–
–
–
Low-income - GNI per capita of $755 or less in 2000
Middle-income - GNI per capita between $756 and
$9,265 in 2000
High-income - GNI per capita of more than $9,266
in 2000
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)


All goods and services produced within a
country’s economy during a given year.
Changes in GDP can be attributed to:
–
–
–
Stable economic conditions worldwide.
Low inflation and interest rates.
Surging flows of foreign capital and expertise into
emerging markets.
Hunger and Global Inequality



People in the U.S. spend more than $5 billion
per year on diet products
The world’s poorest 600 million suffer from
chronic malnutrition, over 40 million die each
year from hunger-related diseases.
Number of people worldwide dying from
hunger is equal to 300 jumbo-jet crashes per
day with no survivors, half are children.
Theories of Global Inequality


Modernization - Low-income, less-developed
nations can improve standard of living by a
period of economic growth and changes in
beliefs, values, and attitudes toward work.
Dependency - Partially attributes global poverty
to the fact that low-income countries have been
exploited by high-income countries.
Theories of Global Inequality


World Systems– The capitalist world economy
is divided into a hierarchy of core,
semiperipheral, and peripheral nations.
New International Division Of Labor Commodity production is split into fragments
that can be assigned to whichever part of the
world can provide the best combination of
capital and labor.
Maquiladora Plants
Corporations establish plants in Mexico so they can
reduce wages and increase profits:
1.
Parts are manufactured in the United States.
2.
The parts are shipped tax free to a factory in Mexico,
and assembled into a finished product.
3.
The completed product is sent back to the U.S. Taxes
are assessed only on the value added in Mexico.