Global Stratification How the Factors

¶ … Global stratification [...] how the factors that help maintain global stratification can be used to explain why some people could hate the industrialized world enough to do things like attack the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001. "The richest 1% of the world have income equivalent to the poorest 57%. Four fifths of the world's population live below what countries in North America and Europe consider the poverty line. The poorest 10% of Americans are still better off than two-thirds of the world population" (Editors). That is global stratification in a nutshell - the great gap between the rich and the poor around the world, and it can lead to misunderstandings, hatred, and violence.

Global stratification, or inequity, illustrates how underdeveloped (or periphery) nations suffer from unemployment, overpopulation, and a lack of technology. They rely on core (or rich) nations, such as the United States, for trade, which is often a major source of their economy (Bartle). The periphery nations have underdeveloped economies, and as they suffer in a rapidly changing world, they become less productive and more dependent on the core nations, and they begin to develop resentment and hostility toward the core nations. Sociologist Phil Bartle notes, "Dependence theory attributes the low income of least developed nations to the dominance of most developed nations" (Bartle). This dependence can lead to hostility between the periphery nations who want more, and the core nations, who do not want to give up more than their "fair share" to the periphery nations. This is evident in the many American corporations that have sent manufacturing and other operations abroad. Corporations such as Nike and Apple have been charged with exploiting workers in sweatshop-like conditions, which has led to resentment of American greed and capitalism. This also leads to underemployment of many people in third-world countries, whose only choice is to work long hours for low wages, and this adds to the feelings of hostility and resentment (Khler).

Neo-colonialism, sometimes known as imperialism, is not nearly as prevalent today as it was even 100 years ago, but it set the stage for the global inequities still in existence today. Imperialism encouraged the exploitation of other countries in order to enrich imperialistic nations such as Great Britain, Germany, and Belgium. This created a cycle of exploitation in many countries ruled as imperial colonies, and the practice continues today in many ways, which adds to their inequity with core nations (Bartle).

Finally, technology has advanced many nations far beyond anything many of the periphery nations can ever hope for. Even the poorest Americans usually have at least a telephone and television, while these are great luxuries in many countries. There is such a great inequity between the wealthiest nations and the poorest that it does not seem hard to understand why so many people resent the wealthiest nations. It seems as if they exploit people and countries to enrich themselves and their decadent lifestyles, and this can add to deep resentment and hatred in some people.