The Role of Rich Nations

1. Controlling Population Increase

Because population growth is greatest in the poorest societies, rising population
can overtake economic advances.

2. Increasing food production

Rich nations can export high-tech farming methods to poor nations to increase
agricultural yields.

3. Introducing industrial technology

Rich nations can encourage economic growth in poor societies by introducing
machinery and information technology, which raise productivity.

4. Providing foreign aid

Investment capital from rich nations can boost the prospects of poor societies
trying to reach Rostow’s take off stage.

Dependency Theory
Dependency theory is a model of economic and social development that explains
global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich
ones.

Historical Perspective
Everyone agrees that before the Industrial Revolution, there was little affluence in
the world. Dependency theory is based on the idea that the economic positions
of rich and poor nations of the world are linked and cannot be understood apart
from each other.

The Importance of Colonialism

Late in the fifteenth century, Europeans began exploring the America to the west,
Africa to the south, and Asia to the east in order to establish colonies. As
colonialism spread, there emerged a brutal form of human exploitation-the
international slave trade-beginning about 1500 and continuing until 1850. Formal
colonialism has almost disappeared from the world.
Wallerstein’s Capitalist World Economy
Immanuel Wallerstein explains global stratification using a model of the “capitalist
world economy”. Wallerstein calls the rich nations the core of the world economy.
Low-income countries represent the periphery of the world economy. The
remaining countries are considered the semiperiphery of the world economy.
According to Wallerstein, the world economy benefits rich societies (by
generating profits) and harms the rest of the world (by causing poverty).

The world economy thus makes poor nations dependent on rich

ones. This dependency involves three factors:

1. Narrow, export-oriented economies.

Poor nations produce only a few crops for export to rich countries.

2. Lack of industrial capacity

Without an industrial base, poor societies face a double bind: They count on
rich nations to buy their inexpensive raw materials, and they must then try to
buy from the rich nations the few expensive manufactured goods they can
afford. Dependency theorists claim that the Green Revolution-widely praised
by modernization theorists-works the same way.

3. Foreign debt
Unequal trade patterns have plunged poor countries into debt.

The Role of Rich Nations

Modernization theory and dependency theory assign very different roles to
rich nations. Dependency theorists dismiss the idea that programs developed
by rich countries to control population and boost agricultural and industrial
output raise living standards in poor countries. The hunger activists Frances
Moore Lappe and Joseph Collins maintain that the capitalist culture of the
United States encourage people to think of poverty as somehow inevitable.
According to Lappe and Collins, the contradiction of poverty amid plenty
stems from the rich nation policy of producing food for profit, not people.

Global Stratification: Looking Ahead

Among the most important trends in recent decades is the development of a
global economy. People who support the global economy claim that the
expansion of trade results in benefits for all countries involved. Perhaps the
greatest concern is the vast economic inequality that exists between the
world’s countries. Both modernization theory and dependency theory offer
some understanding of this urgent problem. The greatest reduction in poverty
has taken place in Asia, a region generally regarded as an economic success
story. In Africa, about half of the nations are showing increasing economic
growth. Overall, then, most people are doing better than in the past. Recent
trends suggest the need to look critically at both modernization and
dependency theories. Although the world’s future is uncertain, we have
learned a great deal about global stratification. Although economic
development raises living standards, it also places greater strains on the
natural environment. Finally, the vast gulf that separates the world’s richest
and poorest people puts everyone at greater risk of war and terrorism as the
poorest people challenge the social arrangements that threaten their
existence.