contempo

• For a long time, all of humanity's societies were impoverished. Poverty was once the norm for all but that is clearly no longer the case
• Just as stratification across socioeconomic groups exists inside a culture such as the Philippines, a profound global stratification with inequities in income and power exists throughout the world
• Market integration


  Consumers gain from it because it broadens the range of financial services and investment options available to them and increases competition in the provision of those services. It also serves as a risk-sharing mechanism in domestic economies, allowing for the smoothing of both economic and financial cycles. Furthermore, it allows for higher risk diversification, which helps to improve risk management and financial stability
• Modernization theory


  A body of theory that became prominent in the 1950s and 1960s in relation to understanding issues of economic and social development and in creating policies that would promote economic and social transitions in poorer countries
• The various components of modernization theory received critiques from the outset but their influence within policy making endured for a significant period of time
• One of the two main explanations for global stratification is the modernization theory. This theory frames global stratification as a function of technological and cultural differences between nations
• Columbian Exchange


  The spread of goods, technology, populations and diseases between the Americas and Europe after Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas
• The Columbian Exchange worked out well for the European countries, as they gained agricultural staples like potatoes and tomatoes, which contributed to population growth and provided new opportunities for trade, while also strengthening the power of the merchant class
• The Columbian Exchange worked out much less well for Native Americans, whose populations were ravaged by the diseases brought from Europe. It is estimated that in the 150 years following Columbus's first trip, over 80% of the Native American population died due to diseases such as smallpox and measles
• The effects of the Columbian Exchange were not isolated to the parts of the world most directly participating in the exchange: Europe and the Americas. It also had large, although less direct, impacts on Africa and Asia. European exploration and colonization of the vast tropical regions of these continents was aided by the New World discovery of quinine, the first effective treatment for malaria
• Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th Century


  When technologies, like steam power and mechanization, allowed countries to replace human labor with machines and increase productivity
• The Industrial Revolution, at first, only benefited the wealthy in Western countries. But industrial technology was so productive that it gradually began to improve standards of living for everyone. Countries that industrialized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw massive improvement in their standards of living, while countries that did not industrialized lagged behind
• Modernization theory rests on the idea that affluence could be attained by anyone. But it argues that the tension between tradition and technological change is the biggest barrier to growth. A society that is more steeped in family systems and traditions may be less willing to adopt new technologies and the new social systems that often accompany them
• The answer to why Europe modernized goes back to sociologist Max Weber's ideas about the Protestant work ethic. The Protestant Reformation primed Europe to take on a progress-oriented way of life in which financial success was a sign of personal virtue. Individualism replaced communalism, which is the perfect breeding ground for modernization
• Global corporation


  A corporation that conducts business globally, operating in at least one country outside of its home country
• There aren't many businesses in the world that can claim to do business in every major country. They could possibly be counted on the fingers of both hands. As a result, the definition of a global firm should be a little more liberal to account for this fact, allowing more organizations to declare themselves global companies
• For a long time, all of humanity's societies were impoverished. Poverty was once the norm for all, but that is clearly no longer the case. Just as stratification across socioeconomic groups exists inside a culture such as the Philippines, a pattern of global stratification with inequities in income and power exists throughout the world.
• Market Integration


  Consumers gain from it because it broadens the range of financial services and investment options available to them and increases competition in the provision of those services. It also allows for higher risk diversification, which helps to improve risk management and financial stability.
• Modernization Theory


  A body of theory that became prominent in the 1950s and 1960s in relation to understanding issues of economic and social development and in creating policies that would assist economic and social transitions in poorer countries.
• Columbian Exchange


  1. Spread of goods, technology, education, and diseases between the Americas and Europe after Christopher Columbus's so called "discovery of the Americas"

  2. Worked out well for European countries who gained agricultural staples and new trade opportunities

  3. Worked out much less well for Native Americans whose populations were ravaged by diseases
• Industrial Revolution in the 18th and 19th Century

  1. Technologies like steam power and mechanization allowed countries to replace human labor with machines and increase productivity

  2. At first only benefited the wealthy in Western countries

  3. Gradually improved standards of living for everyone

  4. Countries that industrialized saw massive improvement in their standards of living while those that did not lagged behind
• Global Corporation


  A company that operates in at least one country other than its home country. It involves introducing the company and its products to people in other countries, not just selling products globally.
• Examples of Global Corporations

  • Hilton and Hyatt Hotels
  • Adobe
  • Cisco
  • 3M
  • Monsanto
  • American Express
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Coca-Cola
• Benefits of a Global Corporation


  • Increase customer base
  • Reduce operating costs
  • Not bogged down by seasonality
  • Boost company growth rate
  • Create new jobs
• The increase in international trade has both created and been supported by international regulatory groups, like WTO and transnational agreements, like NAFTA.
• There is not a single country that is completely independent. All are dependent to some degree on international trade for their own prosperity.
• Multinational/Transnational Corporations (MNCs/TNCs)


  Companies that intentionally surpass national borders and take advantage of opportunities in different countries to manufacture, distribute, market, and sell their products
• Examples of MNCs/TNCs include McDonald's, Coca-Cola, General Electric, and Ford Motor Company.
• International Financial Institutions (IFIs)

  Play a major role in the social and economic development programs of nations with developing or transitional economies through advising on, funding, and assisting with development projects. Their goals are to reduce global poverty, support sustainable development, and promote regional cooperation and integration.
• Canada is a partner and shareholder in the World Bank, which is the major global IFI, and in several other IFIs.
• Global interstate system


  The whole system of human interactions, structured politically as a system of competing and allying states
• Global interstate system


  • Its main purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom
• Global interstate system


  • The most important feature is that it is anarchic, unlike politics within states where relations between states take place in a Hobbesian 'state of nature' where states constantly face actual or potential threats and their main goal is security
• Globalization


  Results from the removal of barriers between national economies to encourage the flow of goods, services, capital, and labor, with the interstate system as the fundamental basis of the competitive commodity economy at the global system level
• Interstate system in international relations

  Relations between states are dominated by coercion, threats, and force, with international violence shaped by and a consequence of state power
• International system


  The global constellation of states, commonly applied to the international systems of the Twentieth century and can equally be applied to pre-industrial international state systems
• The United Nations (UN) is one of the leading political organizations in the world where nation-states meet and deliberate, with its operations beginning on October 24, 1945 with 50 representatives from different countries
• Purpose of the UN

  • Maintaining peace and building friendships, providing a forum where countries could gather to discuss global issues
• UN General Assembly


  • The gathering of all member states where representatives can vote on issues
• UN Security Council


  • A group of 15 countries (5 permanent members and 10 additional members for 2-year terms) that decides what to do when two or more countries are waging war or are on the verge of fighting, with the ability to pass sanctions, send troops or observers, and use military force if necessary