Introduction to Sociology

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4. 
   In Immanuel Wallerstein’s terms, France might be classified as which kind of nation?
   
   1. 
      Core
      
   2. 
      Peripheral
      
   3. 
      Semi-peripheral
      
   4. 
      Global
      

5. 
   In the past, the United States manufactured clothes. Many clothing corporations have shut down their U.S. factories and relocated to China. This is an example of ________.
   
   1. 
      Conflict theory
      
   2. 
      Global stratification
      
   3. 
      OECD
      
   4. 
      Capital flight
      

Check your answers at the end of this document

How is global stratification measured?

Just as the United States’ wealth is increasingly concentrated among its richest citizens while the middle class slowly disappears, global inequality is concentrating resources in certain nations and is significantly affecting the opportunities of individuals in poorer and less powerful countries. In fact, a recent Oxfam (2014) report suggested that the richest eighty-five people in the world are worth more than the poorest 3.5 billion combined.
Various models of global stratification all have one thing in common: they rank countries according to their relative economic status, or gross national product (GNP).
There are three primary ways to measure global stratification:

• 
  The GINI coefficient measures income inequality between countries using a 100-point scale on which 1 represents complete equality and 100 represents the highest possible inequality. In 2007, the global GINI coefficient that measured the wealth gap between the core nations in the northern part of the world and the mostly peripheral nations in the southern part of the world was 75.5 percent (Korseniewicz and Moran 2009).
  

Figure 2. Countries’ income inequality (2014) according to their Gini coefficients measured in percentages. Nations shown in red have higher than average income inequality, and those shown in green have lower than average income inequality.

• 
  Another model separates countries into two groups: more developed and less developed. More-developed nations have higher wealth, such as Canada, Japan, and Australia. Less-developed nations have less wealth to distribute among higher populations, including many countries in central Africa, South America, and some island nations.
  
• 
  Yet another system of global classification defines countries based on the per capita gross domestic product (GDP), a country’s average national wealth per person. The GDP is calculated (usually annually) one of two ways: by totaling either the income of all citizens or the value of all goods and services produced in the country during the year. It also includes government spending. Because the GDP indicates a country’s productivity and performance, comparing GDP rates helps establish a country’s economic health in relation to other countries. The figures also establish a country’s standard of living. You can see country ratings of GDP per capita here.