SOC101YSOC101Y

Introduction to SociologyIntroduction to SociologyProfessor Robert BrymProfessor Robert Brym

Lecture #12Lecture #12Global InequalityGlobal Inequality

25 Jan 201225 Jan 2012

Average Annual Income, Average Annual Income, by Country, 2008by Country, 2008

Area as a Function of Percent of Country’s Area as a Function of Percent of Country’s Population Living on Less Than US $2/day, Population Living on Less Than US $2/day, 20032003

Gross National Income Per Gross National Income Per Capita by Child Mortality Rate, Capita by Child Mortality Rate,

20062006

2008

• 51% of Ontarians earned $30,000 or less

• 59% of CDN workers say they would be in $$ trouble if their paycheque was delayed 1 wk

Canada’s income-gap at 30 yr high

• CA’s gap btw rich & poor is growing

• 2004: the avg earnings of richest 10% of ONs families raising children was 82 times that earned by the poorest 10% of ONs families.

• that’s almost triple the ratio of 1976 (~31 X)

• 2008: 97 times

• 2009: 118 times

• among wealthy countries, Canada is now among nations with the highest percentage of low-paying jobs at 25%

• the incidence of low-paying jobs is one of the best predictors of higher child and family poverty

Toronto’s 3 CitiesDavid Hulchanski

Life Expectancy and Income, 200 Countries over 200

Years

http://projects.chass.utoronto.ca/soc101y/brym/200.avi

Region

GD

P p

er

pers

on (

US d

olla

rs)

Gross Domestic Product Per Person, Sub-Saharan Africa and High-Income Countries

Note: Gross Domestic Product is the dollar value of goods and services produced in a country in a year. The 1975 data are in 2005 dollars adjusted for purchasing power while the 2010 data are in 2008 dollars adjusted for purchasing power.

11.6% shrinkage

130.3% growth

GDP Growth in 2000 Dollars, GDP Growth in 2000 Dollars, 1969-20081969-2008

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Chin

a

Indi

a

Braz

il

Cana

da

USA

Growth in00s of %

The Chinese economy was 27.2 times bigger in 2008 than in 1969.

The Canadian economy was 3.4 times bigger in 2008 than in 1969.

Gin

i Ind

ex o

f In

equa

lity

Year

Inequality of average income for each country

Inequality of average income for each country, weighted for population size

Inequality of income for each individual in the world

Brazil

Note: A Gini index of 0 indicates that every income recipient receives exactly the same amount of income. A Gini index of 1.0 indicates that a single income recipient receives all of the income. To put things in perspective, note that the Gini index of inequality for individuals worldwide is about .70, while the Gini index for individuals in Brazil, which has one of the highest levels of inequality of any country, is about .52.

Three Concepts of World Inequality

The Gini Co-efficient

• Italian sociologist Corrado Gini, early 1900s

• measures income distribution

• a number measuring in/equality

• 0 (perfect equality) to 1.0 (max. inequality)

• 0= everyone has the same income

• 1.0 = one person earns all the income, everyone else earns $0

World Gini Co-efficients, 2009(most = to least =: dark green, lime, lt.blue, blue, purple, pink, orange, red)

Brazil

Bolivia

Paraguay

Columbia

Argent.

Namibia, Botswana, S. Africa

Ctrl Afr.Repub

Mex.

Sweden

China

Mongolia

India

Russian Fed.

IndonesiaPapua, NG.

Japan

S.Korea

Portugal

Niger

Nigeria

CA

US

Aust

NZ

IranTurkey

Sierra Leone

Global Priorities (in $US Global Priorities (in $US billions)billions)

Good or Service Annual CostBasic education for everyone in the world 6 Cosmetics in the United States 8Water and sanitation for everyone in the world 9Ice cream in Europe 11Reproductive health for all women in the world 12Perfumes in Europe & the United States 12Basic health & nutrition for everyone in world 13Pet foods in Europe and the United States 17Business entertainment in Japan 35Cigarettes in Europe 50Alcoholic drinks in Europe 105Narcotic drugs in the world 400Military spending in the world 780

Japan

CA

US

Portugal

UK

New ZealandGreece

ItalyGermany

FinlandNorway

Netherlands

FRIR

Switz

The Argument is that:

Modernization TheoryModernization Theory

Global inequality results from inadequacies in poor societies themselves, including lack of:

capital Western business techniques stable governments a Western mentality emphasizing

savings, investment, innovation, education, high achievement, and self-control in having children

Dependency Theory IDependency Theory I

For 250 years, the most powerful countries in the world have impoverished the least powerful countries as a matter of state policy.

Thus, the countries of the “Third World” or “Global South” accounted for 73% of world industrial production in 1750 but only 7.5% in 1913; in 1913, the world’s 12 richest country accounted for 90% of world industrial production.

Dependency Theory IIDependency Theory II Why? The Industrial Revolution enabled

Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Russia, and the United States to amass enormous wealth, which they used to establish powerful armed forces to subdue and then annex or colonize most of the rest of the world between the middle of the 18th and the middle of the 20th century.

Main exception: Japan (considered less valuable than China and India)

Dependency Theory IIIDependency Theory III

Neo-colonialism established by creating a system of dependency involving three main elements:

Substantial foreign investment Support for authoritarian

governments Mounting debt

Core, Periphery and Core, Periphery and SemiperipherySemiperiphery(Wallerstein)(Wallerstein)

Core: major sources of capital and technology (USA, Japan, Germany)

Periphery: major sources of raw materials and cheap labour (most former colonies)

Semiperiphery: former colonies that are making considerable headway in their attempts to become prosperous (South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore; Israel; more recently, China, India, Brazil)

How Semi-Peripheral Countries How Semi-Peripheral Countries Differ from Peripheral Differ from Peripheral

CountriesCountriesType of colonialism

infrastructural support?Geopolitical position

helpful to USA?State policy

statist, pro-growth?Social structure

land reform; homogeneous?

Canada as a Canada as a Semi-Peripheral CountrySemi-Peripheral Country

Type of colonialism: White settler society in which settlers reinvested rather than sending wealth back to Europe.Geopolitical position: Useful ally of global powers (France, Britain, USA).State policy: Occasionally protective of Canadian industry (National Policy in the 1870s, Auto Pact in the 1960s, NEP (1980s)Social structure: French–English conflict has drawn attention away from development policy.