SOC 248 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Intersectionality, Comparative Advantage, Gisselle
7 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Jennifer Gisselle Marmol
SOC 248: Midterm 1
Topics
Inequality & Development (Blackboard); Sachs
Labor & Trade (Blackboard) Stiglitz; Kramer CH 5
Gender
Education (Blackboard) Sen; CH 8
Intersectionality
Chapter 1
• Double divide : A phrase used by the author to talk about inequality on two levels
1) Between Countries
2) Within Countries
• Gini coefficient: a measure of income inequality among values of a frequency
distribution. O reflects total equality, and 100 reflects max inequality. It’s a measure of
wealth distribution. i.e) Ethiopia is at a 30.0 because everyone there is equally poor.
• Is inequality greater within or between countries? Gap between nations tend to be larger
than the gap within any single country.
• Is inequality declining? Is that meaningful? To an extent.
o Not everyone benefits from globalization
o Wellbeing is more important than GDP* The fact that oncome is becoming more
equal does not take the indicators into considerations. Those problems are not
getting better and are sometimes getting worst.
Theories of the Economy Neoliberalism (Neoclassical)
• Adam Smith’s Theory of the Economy: (1776) Freedom leads to greater wealth. He
means that everyone should have the right to pursue whatever economic pursuit is
meaningful to them. This will lead to maximizing profit. Pro-capitalist: means of
production should be privately owned and operated for profit in a competitive market.
Prevailing philosophy of the World Bank, IMF, WTO
Neoliberalism: free trade (no taxes), deregulation (reducing gov’t regulation), and privatization
• Marx’s Theory of the Economy: he agreed that capitalism will bring economic growth,
but will NOT benefit all because
o Rise of the capitalist class (owners) depends on the exploitation of the proletariat
(workers)
o As machines become more productive, workers are displaced, and wages are
driven down
o Relationship between capitalist and workers is interdependent but still
explorative, meaning the owners need the workers and vise versa.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Modernization Theory: is rooted in neoliberalism, with emphasis on economic growth through
trade, foreign investment, industrialization, modern technology, education, democracy
o Sources of underdevelopment are internal to the country. It says that the reason
poor country x is doing so bad is because they are not modernized.
World Systems/Dependency Theory: is rooted in Marxism
• Foreign investment/trade bring exploitation: term of trade are rigged against the poor.
• Distortion: Goods produced don’t serve local needs and as a result, the ecomony is not
self-sufficient. People making thing snot actually serving your community., This leads to
domination
• Domination: poor countries become dependent on the rich countries
• This theory illustrates that the poor countries weren’t always poor. Sources of
underdevelopment are external. Free trade and foreign investment leads to poor countries
lacking modernization .
Why are people poor in rich nations?
Welfare States
• No country is purely capitalist, with no government involvement (third way economic)
• Many sociologist point to the centrality of the welfare state for reducing poverty (all
poverty). The welfare (social safety net that redistributes resources)
• Welfare – social safety net that redistributes resources to most vulnerable
Example: child poverty before and after government intervention - taxes (Fig 1.2, page 29).
**Third way economics
**Patterns in child poverty before and after government intervention
**How does geography explain inequality in development? (Sachs reading)
What is Sachs’ solution? (Sachs reading)
Sachs advances a new explanation: geography
▪ Natural resources (mountains, rivers, floodplains, rainfall)
▪ Green Revolution: (help poor countries trying to increase agriculture) As a result,
practices were more efficient, and therefore more people moved into the city, economy
grew in Asia.
▪ Tropical Climate/Disease Burden
▪ Proximity to trade routes/high transport costs
What can be done? Aid from rich countries for irrigation, fertilizers, bed nets, highways, airports,
phone and internet cable. It requires: $160 billion a year (.5% GNP) It’s have of 1% of the GDP
of the rich countries. It’s double the current aid budget of those rich countries.
Problems/criticisms of Sachs’ solution (Sachs reading)
Problem with SACHS $160 Billion solution
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
▪ It only increases dependency on the west. Relations with the west are exploited. He’s
underestimating poverty.
▪ Unfulfilled promises, how can he assure that the west pays? How do we know that
money is going to go into the right hands and not undergo corruptions.
▪ Who is monitoring the way that the money is giving? (domination in world system
colonization) In addition, the bureaucracy involved in monitoring the expenses would
cost additional expenses.
▪ This money does not include every expense that will be necessary. For instance, money
allocated to wars, humanitarian events and cries, natural disasters, etc. He’s measuring
money at living on less than one dollar a day.
▪ This plan is focused on sub-Saharan African, not on the rest of the world
▪ Difficult to implement, feasibility of getting western countries on board
▪ Would aid money even do anything? Unless properly allocated. Also, SACHS never
mentions slavery and its effects on these countries. It underestimates the history of
colonization. One size fits all prescription, he’s generalizing all poor countries as if
though they were all the same
Chapter 2
How does the division of labor affect society? (Smith, Ricardo, Marx, Durkheim)
Division of Labor: In simpler economic most people worked together or in
complimentary tasks.
How has this changed in modern times? Modernization, we have an increase in labor
How has division of labor affect society?
▪ Adam Smith:
o when workers specialize, they are more efficient, leading to more efficient
production + markets = prosperity for everyone
o *but there’s a possibility for owners to manipulate
o *workers will no longer be self sufficient
▪ David Ricardo
o Adam Smiths ideas extended internationally
o Comparative advantage + World trade = prosperity
o Small countries can become dependent on one or two products
o *What if a country’s advantage is in providing cheap labor or relaxed
environmental laws?
▪ Emile Durkheim
o Agricultural societies had solidarity because they worked together and had
common
o Modern societies also find solidarity because people need each other
o Structural fundamentalism
▪ Karl Marx
o Agreed with Adam Smith: division of labor, which brings productivity but it also
does the following: deskills workers, which leads to vulnerability
o Agreed with Durkheim’s industrialization an dhow it could lead to greater
solidarity but probably wouldn’t
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Labor & trade (blackboard) stiglitz; kramer ch 5. Chapter 1: double divide : a phrase used by the author to talk about inequality on two levels, between countries, within countries, gini coefficient: a measure of income inequality among values of a frequency distribution. O reflects total equality, and 100 reflects max inequality. It"s a measure of wealth distribution. i. e) ethiopia is at a 30. 0 because everyone there is equally poor. Gap between nations tend to be larger than the gap within any single country. To an extent: not everyone benefits from globalization, wellbeing is more important than gdp* the fact that oncome is becoming more equal does not take the indicators into considerations. Those problems are not getting better and are sometimes getting worst. Theories of the economy neoliberalism (neoclassical: adam smith"s theory of the economy: (1776) freedom leads to greater wealth. He means that everyone should have the right to pursue whatever economic pursuit is meaningful to them.
