Download Study Guide 5 Hunger, Poverty, and Economic Development

Study Guide
World Conflict SB313
Chapter Six: Hunger, Poverty, and Economic Development
“This is America's opportunity to help bridge the gulf between the haves and the have-nots.
And the question is whether America will do it. There's nothing new about poverty. What
is new is we now have the techniques and the resources to get rid of poverty. The real
question is whether we have the will.”
----- Martin Luther King, Jr.
"There is enough for the world's need but not for its greed"
---- M.K. Gandhi
1. One dollar per day (1.2 billion) & less than two dollars per day (nearly 3 billion)
2. One sixth of the world’s population is hungry (right now)
3. Nearly 1 in 5 American children are classified as poor
4. Veggie? There’s enough to go around
5. Market power and hunger
6. From Gathering and Hunting to the Neolithic
a. Paleolithic hunter gatherers
b. Neolithic Revolution
c. Slash and burn/horticulture
7. The First Class Societies
a. The last ice age
b. Plow agriculture
i. Irrigation
ii. Divisions of labor
iii. Power hierarchies
iv. The surplus
v. Gender roles
8. Capitalism and Agriculture
a. High Middle Ages
b. The Black Death
c. New trade routes
d. Town and cities
e. An emerging middle class
f. Political power and economic power
g. Imperialism and colonialism
h. Industrial Revolution
i. Food as commodity
j. Technology and agriculture
k. Lower cost food
l. Freeing up of labor
m. Urbanization
n. Mass production
o. Worldwide impact
9. The Neocaloric and the Green Revolution
a. Vast increase in nonhuman energy devoted to food production in the form of
pesticides, herbicides, and machinery (the Green Revolution)
b. Ratio of kilocalories to crop production (p. 181)
c. Livestock raising and efficiency quotient (p. 183)
d. Fossil fuels for production and efficiency
e. Squeezing of swidden farmer
f. Increasing concentration of production
i. Capital intensive agriculture
ii. Large state-subsidies for agribusiness
iii. Minimizing the use of labor
iv. Types of food produced driven by the market --- not need/cash crops
v. Where’s the beef? (p.185)
vi. Example of the Irish famine (Sinead O’Connor) --- who starves and why?
vii. Fast Food Nation
g. Urbanization
i. More people dependent on wage labor for food
ii. Access to food and market power
h. Gap between rich and poor
10. The Anatomy of Endemic Hunger
a. “Although famine as a cause of hunger has decreased, endemic hunger caused by
poverty has increased” (belonging exclusively or confined to a particular place)
b. The Trickle-Down/Core-Periphery model (e.g., Brazil --- p. 189)
i. The Burning Season
ii. Urban poverty in Brazil
iii. Hunger as a “medical problem”! (p. 192-193)
11. Solutions to Poverty and Hunger (next week)