THE FLAT EARTH HYPOTHESIS

Poverty, inequality and you

Today

What does it mean to be (globally) poor?

Globalisation and poverty

The development ladder

From poverty to inequality

To what extent…

….has globalisation, or global capitalism, been beneficial for the global poor? ….do we live in an increasingly ‘flat’ earth?

And, what does this have to do with us?

From individual to collective

The predominant attitude of the young in Western societies is of increasing acceptance of individual expression – ‘be who you want to be’

This individualism has led to greater acceptance of, and rights for, minority identities and lifestyles

Conversely, the societal expression of individualism is consumerism and a resigned attitude to collective change

Over the next two weeks we will consider the social consequences of our individual actions, asking what capacity we have to enact change

What would it mean to be in poverty?

Constructing Poverty

Whilst poverty can often seem like a straightforward idea, it is the subject of considerable debate

The way in which we construct and measure these categories has a significant effect on our responses to material deprivation

Poverty tends be constructed as either absolute or relative

World Bank Resolution

“Absolute poverty is a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including

food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. It

depends not only on income but also on access to social services” World Bank, 1995

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Measuring poverty

World Bank measurements of absolute poverty are based on ‘Purchasing Power Parity’ (PPP)

PPP measures the amount of money needed to purchase the same amount of goods in each country, expressed in US dollars

The World Bank defines extreme/absolute poverty as living on less than $1.25 a day (it had previously been US$1.08)

Measurements are carried out through ‘household’ surveys and the methodology has been strongly challenged

What would be the minimum basic

needs be in London?

How much do you live on?

Using the list of minimum needs you produced before, make a brief daily budget

Living in London, how much do you require to maintain your basic needs?

How would you live?

If your income was reduced to £.82 per day, or £5.64 per week, how would you live?

Would you have shelter?

Where would you get your food and water?

If you had no land, or no opportunity to find formal employment, how would you try to find income?

Good News!

Whilst the majority of the world still suffer from material deprivation, there has been significant progress

As global sociologists, our question is how this trend has occurred and is it likely to continue

Poverty before modernity

For large periods of human history poverty was seen as both natural and inevitable

Inevitable because there were not enough resources for

everyone

Natural because those who experienced poverty were born into

that condition and had no means to rise above it

With the ideals of modernity and the economic progress of the industrial revolution came the possibility that poverty could, and should, be overcome

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

The MDGs were set by the United Nations in 2000 to be achieved by 2015, with a baseline of 1990

Alone with the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign, the MDGs symbolised a new approach to poverty

One of the eight goals was to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’, which has three measures: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less

than $1 a day

Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Progress

Why?

There are two competing explanations for this progress

1. The expansion of capitalism based on neo-liberal principles

2. Progress is extremely uneven and has been based on two extreme cases in China and India

Both these perspectives acknowledge the benefits of scientific advances in public health and agriculture

The Flat Earth

Economic interconnectedness is one of the distinguishing features of globalisation and global capitalism

From the 1970s capitalism began to expand rapidly through trade and the ‘out-sourcing’ of employment

Intensified connections between distant localities vastly reduces differences in economic opportunity Communication technology has allowed for the trading of services

Political changes in trade and technological changes in transportation have globalised manufacturing

These factors have brought a huge supply of labour into the global market, leading to a ‘convergence effect’ and the idea of a global development ladder

Globalising employment

Convergence Effect

The Development Ladder

The idea of a development ladder was popularised by Jeffery Sachs (one of the authors of the MDGs)

It suggests that climbing out of poverty is possible, but incrementally achieved through structural changes

Consequently, intensive manufacturing is just one step up the economic ladder

The development ladder relies on a globalised economy orientated towards trade

China’s Climb

By utilising its massive supply of labour, China was able to attract manufacturing investment

It transformed from a rural, agricultural, economy to an industrial power

As more work came to China, the country grew richer and more money was spent internally

This raised living standards and increased the possibilities for more investment and development

Eventually, labour costs rise and lost-cost work goes elsewhere

Is your phone good for the world, or just for

you?

What would you like to ask?

Below the Sahara Desert

Sub-Saharan Poverty

The climate in parts of this region is particularly harsh, making it difficult to grow crops without technological intervention

Many areas lack access to ports for trade and fresh water for irrigation and health

Much of the area exists in a ‘poverty trap’ whereby public heath issues, a historical lack of infrastructure and education prevent them from climbing onto the ‘development ladder’

People spend too much of their money on survival rather than ‘investment’

Foreign investment is often low and the educated elite often migrate

Approximately 40% of African born scientists live in the OECD

That investment that does exist is often highly exploitative

What has this got to do with you?

With the advent of globalisation and the idea of an interconnectedness world, there was an increased focus on global poverty

We experience this interconnectedness through the media as well as through economic associations

This comes to imply that we are responsible for that poverty, often through charitable discourse

These discourses appeal to us as consumers who have the capacity to respond

Congratulations !

You have just won £1million…

… but it all has to be given to charity

Where will it go?

Charitable difficulties

Charity implies a choice rather than a moral obligation

It also takes away responsibility from Western citizens/nations – there is no sense that the winners of capitalism might be responsible

Charitable giving, and aid, can be a short term band-aid rather than being a long-term solution

Do the rich have a moral responsibility to help the

poor?

Inequality for all

Whilst global wealth has grown, inequality has expanded significantly during the same period

We in the West are also becoming affected by the same processes that are causing difficulties elsewhere

Relative poverty

Inequality creates relative poverty, which is a measured as a point ‘relative’ to others

In the UK this point is 60% of average income (less housing costs)

Inequality is also often measured by a ‘Gini Coefficient’ whereby 1= maximum inequality and 0 no inequality

Relative poverty and inequality and very abstract concepts, but are most strongly seen in social exclusion

Inequality for everyone

As Western low-skilled jobs have gone overseas, inequality has increased in the West Neo-liberal restructuring has also had a massive effect

Conversely, whilst these jobs have gone to developing countries, wealth remains highly unequal within those countries

Developing nations are split between those who have benefited from development and those who remain rural and poor

Neo-liberal reforms have removed protections from vulnerable peoples

The poor may be less poor, but the very rich are much richer

Is global inequality a problem if people

continue to move out of absolute poverty?

The Global Elite

If anything has become globalised it has been an elite class

Both capital, and capitalists, are able to move freely around the world, often owning multiple homes around the world

These bankers, investors and other elites have begun to live in a world quite divorced from the other 99%

Everything can be sourced privately in a ‘bubble’ cut off from regular social reality

This global elite is a noticeable feature of London life

The consequences of inequality

Inequality tends to produce greater tension between people, creating crime and decreasing social cohesion

There are also strong effects on health and life expectancies, including factors like obesity and teenage birth rates

Overall societal well-being tends to fall in societies with very high inequality

Next Week

IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE LIMITS TO EXPANSION

Readings

Cohen and Kennedy, Chapter 20 Group reading: McCright, A.M and Dunlap, R.E. (2011) The Politicization of Climate Change and Polarization in the American Public’s Views of Global Warming, 2001-2010. The Sociological Quarterly. pp.155–194 Starter question: Why do you believe, or not believe, in climate change? .

Definitions of Poverty

Poverty: United Nations

United Nations: Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.

Poverty: World Bank

World Bank: Poverty is pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life

Absolute Poverty

When the World Bank measures poverty, however, it refers to absolute poverty

Absolute, or extreme, poverty is an income measure that calculates the minimum income required to meet basic needs

The difficulty comes in measuring income and deciding what are basic needs (and how much they cost) in each location

Moreover, should basic needs include social elements, or take ownership of resources into account?

The limits of income

This measure assumes that the poor are labourers and does not take into account the benefits of having resources to reproduce themselves independently

As such the World Bank’s measurement implies that selling labour to be the only means for the poor to move out of poverty

Alternatively, the ‘capabilities’ approach created by Amartya Sen focuses on freedom of choice (agency) and the ability to use resources

This model is the basis for the United Nations’ ‘Human Development Index’

The Human Development Index (HDI) measures: Life expectancy

Education

Income

The HDI tends to be strongly correlated with per-capita income

Human Development Index

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