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6
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Finish Lecture 6
Lecture 7: Global Stratification
Homework:
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Davis, Mike Global Slums Chp 1-3
Summary of SL Interview #1
Lecture 7
Global Inequality
Global Inequalities
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Global Inequalities
 The three richest people in the world own more than the
combined GDP of the 48 least-developed countries
 The richest 1% of the worlds population earns more than the
bottom 57%
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US vs. Other Countries: Vast inequalities
 Income
 Infrastructure
 Health and Education
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Paradox of plenty
 Why do we have inequality with so much wealth?
Modernization Theory
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Global inequality results from dysfunctions
internal to poor societies themselves
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Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth
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Traditional society
Transitional stage
Take Off
Drive to Maturity
High Mass Consumption
Historical Inequalities
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The richest countries of the world experienced the
industrial revolution in the 1800’s and early 1900’s
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During this time European powers fought each other over
colonial territories
Colonization: a foreign power uses its superior
military force to impose its political, economic,
social, and cultural institutions on an indigenous
population with the aim of dominating their
resources, labor, and markets
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Britain, the Caribbean, and India
Colonies in 1898
Human Development Index 2006
Dependency Theory
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Focuses on relationship between rich and poor
countries
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The history of colonialism needs to be taken into
account when examining global inequality today
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Development of some was dependent on the
underdevelopment of others
Neo-colonization: through economic and political means –
not military force – countries are forced into dependency
Development comes with Underdevelopment
Newly Industrializing Countries
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New, rapidly growing economies of the world
started in emerge in the 1970’s
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How did the Asian Tigers (and also Latin
America) do it?
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Colonial relationships
Economic and military aid
Strong central gov’t
Global economic growth
World Systems Analysis
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Global capitalist development creates an
integrated world system with three tiers
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Core: major sources of capital and technology
Periphery: raw materials and cheap labor
Semi-Periphery: core in decline or periphery
moving up
Mobility is upward and/or downward
Global Integration: Whose Rules?
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Political and economic relations among the
most powerful countries (USA, Japan,
Germany, China…) shape the world economy
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Integration into the global economy is based
on the economic theory of comparative
advantage
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Uneven “playing field”
Biopiracy and Gene Theft
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Biopiracy: appropriation of genetic material
by foreigners
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‘Discovering’ traditional knowledge
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Intellectual Property Rights and TRIPS
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Extracting from the periphery:
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Global South: 90% of biological wealth
Global North: 97% of patents
Best Explanation?
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Thinking about the readings for today, which
theory do you think best explains global
inequality & global poverty today?
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Modernization
Dependency
World Systems Analysis