Transcript Global Stratification PPT

Global Stratification
Wealth and Poverty in the
World
Global Stratification
• Global stratification categorizes
countries based on objective criteria,
such as wealth, power and prestige,
which highlight social patterns and
inequality throughout the world.
Population and
Geographic Area
• When comparing nations and regions,
size matters.
• In particular, factors such as population
and geographic size can determine a
country’s use of and access to natural
resources and talented people.
• Consider Russia is the world’s largest
country in geographic area, but ranks
10th in population size.
• Bangladesh, on the other hand, is the 7th
largest country in terms of population
and ranks 94th in geographic area.
• Why? Population is not always
distributed evenly.
• Geography also plays a role in who
remains in the bottom billion.
• According to economist Paul Collier,
the majority of the bottom billion are
landlocked and surrounded by
neighboring countries that are also poor
and experience frequent intervals of
armed conflict, which makes climbing
out of poverty difficult.
Income
• To determine a country’s per-capita
income, you must divide the country’s
total gross income by the number of
people in that country and assume it is
equally distributed, which of course, it is
not.
• However, the per-capita income can
provide interesting comparisons.
• Most of the top 10 income-producing
countries are located in Europe, while
most of the bottom income-producing
countries are located in Africa.
• Most of the bottom billion live in Africa
and central Asia.
Measures of Stratification in
Underdeveloped Nations
•
Underdeveloped nations are
relatively poor and may or may not be
in the process of becoming
industrialized.
•
The United Nations aids the least
developed countries on the basis of
three criteria:
1. A country must have a low gross
national income
2. Its population must meet health and
education criteria
3. factors like population size and
remoteness determine need.
• Developing countries are those in the
process of becoming industrialized.
• However, issues like poverty and
hunger still affect these countries as they
grow.
Poverty and Hunger
• According to international stratification
measures, sub-Saharan Africa is the
most disadvantaged region in the world.
• This region has the highest rates of
childhood death, hunger and people
living on less than one-dollar a day.
• Sub-Saharan Africa also has the lowest
rate of sanitation, which leads to higher
rates of illness and death.
• Disadvantaged regions illustrate
disparity between wealth countries and
poor ones.
• Collier suggests that four “traps” keep
some countries poor while allowing
other countries to climb out of the
bottom billion.
Collier’s Traps
1. Conflict: the presence of frequent civil
wars and coups keeps a country from
being able to climb out of poverty.
2. Natural resources trap: the presence
of natural resources can actually lead a
country to more poverty, especially if
their resources are exported and the
profits are not used to improve the
country.
3. Landlocked with non-beneficial
neighbors: Even countries like Uganda,
which has copious natural resources and
relative stability, can still have problems
entering the global market if they do not
have ports and they’re surrounded by other
impoverished countries.
4. Bad governances: Many of those who live in
the bottom billion live in countries with a
long history of bad governance. Leaders
often protect the intersts of the wealthy
without reinvestment of the wealth to help the
many.
Measures of Stratification
in Developed Nations
• Developed countries, like the United
States, have a well-educated population,
regular elections, abundant industry,
and free enterprise.
• Germany, Japan, and Great Britain are
all developed nations and share many of
the same characteristics, both socially
and politically, with the United States.
Poverty
• When studying global stratification, it’s
important to consider international
comparisons of poverty among
developed countries.
Poverty Rates of 10
Developed Countries
Country
% OF Pop in
Poverty (Rank)
% of Children in
Poverty
% of Children in
Poverty after
Taxes & welfare
% of Elderly in
Poverty
United States
17 (1)
26.6
21.9
24.7
Ireland
16.5 (2)
24.9
15.7
35.8
United Kingdom
12.4 (3)
25.4
15.4
20.5
Canada
11.4 (4)
22.8
14.9
5.9
Denmark
9.2 (5)
11.8
2.4
6.6
Germany
8.3 (6)
18.2
10.2
10.1
France
8 (7)
27.2
7.5
9.8
Belgium
8 (8)
16.7
7.7
16.4
Austria
7.7 (9)
17.7
10.2
13.7
Switzerland
7.6 (10)
7.8
6.8
18.4
Quality of Life
• Which world city
offers the best
quality of life?
• A 2014 study shows
that is Melbourne,
Australia.
• Worst city,
Baghdad, Iraq.
• This year’s ranking uses a set of common
criteria to compare cities.
• These include electricity and water supply,
telephone and mail services, public
transport, automobile traffic, and the variety
of flights from local airports.
• Many use measures of health and longevity to
determine a location’s quality of life.
• Common sense follows that the quality of life
must be highest in the countries in which fewer
babies die and people live longer.
Social Systems
• All societies have systems by which they
stratify, or rank, their members and by which
those people receive the rewards of that
society.
• Sociologists often characterize populations
using wealth, power, and prestige as the
basis of stratification systems.
• Three most common social stratification
systems are slavery, caste, and class
systems.
Slavery
• Slavery refers to the total control over
people who have no choice about their
status.
• It is estimated that there are as many as
27 million world-wide.
• Sociologist Kevin Bales suggests that
several new factors drive slavery today.
• Apart from rapid population growth and
extreme poverty, weak governments,
worldwide desire for cheap labor, and
capital investment can support slavery.
• Weak governments may tolerate
bribery or cannot control the behavior of
local warlords and wealthy landowners.
• With rapid population growth, potential
slaves abound.
Forms of Slavery-Chattel
• Chattel slavery is the closest to the old
form of slaver because a slave is
considered property.
• A chattel slave may work a lifetime for
one family.
• Future generations will also become
servants of the owner.
Forms of slavery- Debt
bondage
• Debt bondage occurs when a debtor is
housed and fed by his or her lender.
• Debtors’ wages are never enough to
cover their expenses or debt.
• This form of slavery usually begins when
someone borrows money in order to
repay a different debt.
Forms of slavery–
Contract Slavery
• Contract slavery occurs when a person
signs a work contract receiving food
and shelter by an employer.
• This is different from debt bondage
because it is conducted under the façade
of a legal contract.
Caste Systems
• Caste systems are similar to slave
systems in that people have an ascribed
status.
• However, unlike most slave systems,
people are born into a caste system and
the status is lifelong.
• Within caste systems, a person’s
position may be a position of power and
privilege or of disadvantage, but in
either case, his or her place is
permanently fixed.
• A person who is born to the lower class
in a caste system will never have an
opportunity to move vertically or join a
high class.
Class Systems
• Sociologically speaking, there is no
“official” agreement on the number and
kind of social classes within the United
States.
What is Global
Stratification?
• Global stratification is the
categorization of countries based on
objective criteria, such as wealth, power
and prestige, which highlight social
patterns and inequality throughout the
world.
What are the theories behind
Global Stratification?
• World systems theory the world is divided
by its connection to economic power
• Neocolonialism powerful nations use loans
and economic power to maintain control over
poor nations.
• Globalization a complex process by which
the world and its international economy are
becoming more and more intertwined; some
argue that an aspect of globalization is
exploitation.
What is being done to assist
underdeveloped countries?
• Foreign aid to underdeveloped
countries
• Peace Corps
Theoretical PerspectivesFunctionalism
• Functionalists:
– Global stratification is a result of
geographic conditions
– Jared Diamond: European countries thrived
because they had natural resources that
helped those societies function more
efficiently.
Theoretical PerspectivesConflict Theorists
• Conflict Theorists
– An imbalance of power between the elites and
the poor in a country causes stratification
– Vilfredo Pareto: even among elites, power
changes occur; in times of struggle, lions will rule
the day, but eventually foxes will take charge.
– Gaetano Mosca: leaders will do what they can to
remain in power because it’s in their best
interests to do so.
Theoretical PerspectivesSymbolic Interactionists
• Symbolic Interactionists
– Looks a how language and symbolic
events influence society
– T. R. Reid: Europeans identify themselves
as members of Europe, not the specific
country in which they were born.