Global Inequalities Essay

Global Inequality is the income differences across states and the individuals around the world. Each country has a unique way of living, yet the United States lifestyle has more resources for the people and it is more modernized. There are many places in the world that are going through poverty. Jobs are harder to find, and homes are harder to keep, so people have poor hygiene and are unable to support their families. You would think that countries in poverty would be supported by the more developed countries, however that is not the situation. There are two theories that are accounted for the current global situation. The theory that I believe that gives less support would be modernization theory and the more adequate theory is the dependency/world system theory. Together with the autobiography, “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” by John Perkins and the documentary, “The End of Poverty?” (2008), will help support my arguments.

Global communications, space exploration, and international events are just some of the things that formed the interconnected web between nations and sped up globalization. However, as much as we like to think that the world is making progress, there is still the undeniable fact that some countries citizens are much better off and enjoy a higher standard of living than compared to the people of other nations. Ever since the era of globalization began, the gap between the First and Third World is becoming bigger and bigger.

In her piece, “Why Global Inequality Matters,” Nancy Birdsall argues that global inequality is an issue because it can negatively affect the social life, the political process and the economy of countries (especially developing ones). She looks at “how global integration affects poor versus rich countries (and people within countries), and on the resulting limits to poor countries’ (and poor people’s) ability to capture the potential benefits of globalization.” In order to argue her point further, she expounds on why global inequality matters and explores the possible role that globalization may have in perpetuating global inequality. Inequality matters, especially in developing countries with already weak institutions, because it may runs “the risk

Discuss the sociocultural, socioeconomic and environmental determinants that lead to these inequities (6 marks) (250 words)

"Modernization" has been a standout amongst the most strongly arranged ideas of the hypothetical and verifiable sociologies throughout the most recent fifty years. Originations of the term have changed significantly over the span of this talk. Beginning as an idealistic and unmistakably framework subordinate subsidiary of the Western, European and North-American thought of advance, the idea ended up noticeably mindful of the inner conflicts, control structures, and unintended results of innovation. Modernization progressively created from an effortlessly workable and appropriate – and frequently spur of the moment – idea into a general heuristic thought, which brings up the issue with regards to the ties holding present day social orders together and the

Inequality is due to the unequal distribution of wealth, as countries have their own internal issues, such as

Globalisation has been one of the main drivers of global inequality. When the Soviet Union fell apart and China started to grow, the global economy received over a billion of new workers. This has brought outsourcing to its peak and the value for unskilled labour has decreased. This has created the complete opposite effect for skilled workers where wages have gone up. Over the years this has created a huge global income gap.

Some inequalities which still remain to day is the wage gap between men and women, the education gap between students, and the opportunities offered for minorities. I believe a wage gap between men and women still remain because of the CEO positions put in place. Including the ignorance of people who hire the employees. The society also puts in place the belief of men to be inferior to women. I also think the education gap between students also exists because the low funding for students who go to schools in poor areas.This also gives the students less opportunities. The society also affects how minorities gain opportunities. The majority of minorities live in poor areas, which this also going hand and hand with the difficulties of education

The modernization process has been experienced in different ways by different countries that some of them succeeded and some of them failed. Theoretically it has been defined as “a concept in the sphere of social science that refers to the process in which society goes through industrialization, urbanization and other social changes” (Zapf, 2004).Even there is no single approach toward this process, evolutionism, diffusionism, structural functionalism, systems theory and interactionism as well as other disciplines such as political science, economics, anthropology, psychology and others are combined to be known as modernization theory.

In contrast with modernization theory, dependency theory does not advocate for poorer nations to attempt to assimilate the practices of the wealthy ones. In this regard, dependency theory does not evince the commitment to globalization that characterizes modernization theory; countries are not seen as operating cooperatively and are instead viewed as competing for the same limited pool of resources. Additionally, where modernization theory necessarily involves technology and other principles of modernity (including the ability to interact with others from geographically distant locations), dependency theory does not subscribe to the belief that incorporating technology will lead to economic success (Scott, 1995). At stake in the debate between modernization theory and dependency theory is thus

A prime reason to support the source’s argument is the rapid increase of global inequality in both first world and third-world countries. Proponents of globalization argue that the global integration of trading goods between countries have increased the average income within countries, as well as reduce wealth inequality. However, through current data analysed by The United Nations, it is estimated that over the past 30 years, the rise in inequality between developed and developing countries has been exponential. Economists such as the one quoted above have deducted that the increasing disparity has highly been due to the rapid globalization that has been enforced throughout the world. Nobel Laureate Eric Maskin of Harvard University theorizes

Modernization theory is a hypothesis used to clarify the procedure of modernization that a country experiences as it moves from a simple society to a modern one. Dependency theory is the idea that assets spill out of a fringe of poor and immature states to a centre of rich states, enhancing the latter to the detriment of the former. These two theories contrast in that modernization theory clarifies how created states work and develop, whereas dependency theory outline how work and develop are restricted. Modernization theory clarifies the advancement and improvement of innovation in more steady regions of the world (Culp, 2014). Dependency theory looks at the impacts that modernization in one district has on different parts of the world. Dependency theory is more comprehensive than modernization theory. Modernization theory emphasises that instruction, innovation and broad communications are noteworthy reasons why created districts pull ahead from others. Be that as it may, modernization theory does not operate on a worldwide scale where the assets, work and power originate to make this advancement conceivable. In modernization theory, the majority of the advancements that local areas or states make originate from an aggregate interior exertion.

What is meant by the word ‘modernization’ and how can one define a ‘developing nation’? The word modernization can have different meanings depending on what context it is said in. Sorensen (2001) defined the word modernization as, ‘a term used for the transition from the traditional society of the past to modern society as it found in the West’ (no pagination). Shubert (1992) asserted that,

to what extent is it possible to identify a causal link between globalization and inequality?

Inequality must be defined and be able to be measured so that comparisons can be made between rich and poor countries. Once the causes are determined, the effects of globalization can be evaluated and be measured. The World Bank defines inequality as the disparity of income and standard of living among nations and their citizens (Birdsall, 2002)