Ch 9. Global Stratification

Question 1

Global Stratification

Answer 1

Patterns of Social Inequality in the world as a whole

Question 2

Stages of Stratification (4)

Answer 2

1. Hunters and Gatherers (little inequality)
2. Horticultural: More inequality as surplus begins. Technology = Surplus
3. Agricultural: More inequality with more surplus
4. Industrial: More inequality with more specialization.

Question 3

Revised System (Income earning capacity GDP + GNI)

Answer 3

1. 79 high income countries (GNI> $15,000)
2. 67 middle-income countries: 45% of the population of the world ($15,000<GNI<$4000)
3. 48 low-income countries: nations with a low standard of living. (GNI<$4000)

Question 4

UN Sustainable Development

Answer 4

Commitment from UN countries on enhancing economy growth, social inclusion, and environmental protection to improve the wellbeing of individuals and societies.

Question 5

Poverty and Women (3)

Answer 5

1. Undervalued work
2. Precarious (uncertain) work
3. 70% of the world’s billion people living in near absolute poverty are women

Question 6

Explanations of Global Poverty

Answer 6

1. Lack of tech
2. Population Growth
3. Cultural Patterns (resists change)
4. Social Stratification (wealth distributed unequally)
5. Gender Inequality
6. Global Power Relationships (colonialism)

Question 7

Colonialism

Answer 7

The process by which some nations enrich themselves through political and economic control of other nations

Question 8

Neocolonialism

Answer 8

A new form of global power relationships that involves not direct political control but economic exploitation by multinational corporations

Question 9

Multinational Corporation

Answer 9

A large business that operates in many countries

Question 10

Modernization Theory
(structural-functional theory)

Answer 10

A model of economic/social development that explains global inequality in terms of technological and cultural differences between nations.

Poverty is still here because societies don’t adopt new tech. Tradition is the greatest barrier to economic development

Question 11

Affluence

Answer 11

The state of having a lot of money/wealth

Question 12

Walt Rostow’s Modernization Stages (4)

Answer 12

1. Traditional Stage
2. Take-Off Stage (markets, greater individualism, desire for material goods)
3. Drive to technological maturity (eager for industrial tech)
4. High Mass Consumption (mass production=mass consumption) people “need” goods that their societies provide

Question 13

Dependency Theory (Social-Conflict Theory)

Answer 13

A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of historical exploitation of poor nations by rich ones

People in poor countries were actually better off economically in the Erie past than their descendants are now

Question 14

Wallerstein Claims of how rich societies cause poverty. Dependency involves (3)

Answer 14

1. Narrow, export-orientated economies (corporations purchase raw materials cheaply in poor societies and processes on their own, so poor nations develop few industries on their own)
2. Lack of Industrial Capacity
3. Foreign Debt