Thursday, 29 December y

SOC3 Lecture 1
1.
2.

Global Social Problems (3 Lectures: Michaelmas weeks 2-4)

Lecturer: Dr Jeff Miley.
1.

Lecture 1: The Problem of Poverty and Inequality

Problems that are global in scope; global sociology.
Approach that looks systemically interrelated dynamics of
hierarchy and oppression. Intersectional approach; takes a
class dimension, gender dimension and enthnoracial dimension of social reality.
Three problems: Global inequality; borders (xenophobic
parties defending borders and national sovereignty);
Inequality: patterns of inequalities in advanced, rich
countries and different dimensions [gender dimensions of
inequality)
The problem of inequality:
Global economic - basic descriptive point is material
distribution of rich and poor.
Richest 10% in the world have as much as the bottom 90%
Total assets ever more unequal. Us, Eur and Japan where
richest are
Poverty widespread in developing countries. 5/6 of worlds
population is global poor; fallen sharply in China.
Moral reasons why its problematic; political reasons why
(kinds of instabilities generated in political systems with
these massive inequalities). We also have a global system;
there are massive discrepancies of wealth across the globe,
not just within rich countries
Effects on peoples life; where youre born systematically
dictates what kind of life youll live. For example, life
expectancy. Huge disparities across countries regarding
material inequalities.
GDP is used as a measure of economy; problematic really.
Amaryta Sen has tried to address global issues and used
social scientific methods to address it. Human development
index; multidimensional definition of well-being used to
measure inequalities across the globe
In UN and nation-states, they believe in measuring a

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problem before addressing it.
Stiglitz is also another person - compounding indices to
measure inequality.
(income, consumption and wealth); health; education; wrk,
political voice and governance; social connections and
relationships etc.
Measuring development - theres histories behind concepts
of development and behind that idea is the notion of
civilisation. There is an inheritance of an intellectual
tradition which divides the world between civilised and
uncivilised. nevertheless worth looking at; powerful stories
told when we think about where youre born in the planet
determining so much about the kind of life youll lead
HDI indicator: regions of the world are radically different
wen it comes to their score.
The HDI map follows global patterns of imperialism (the
historical patterns). Moving beyond describing inequalities
towards explaining it, we may want to factor in colonisation
Thinking also assumptions that are built or reproduced by
these kinds of maps. An ideological hegemony of the world
divided into civilised and uncivilised places
The Gender aspect of poverty; the feminisation of poverty
Inequality has an important gender dimension; not just
where youre born, but also what gender youre assigned.
Inequality is systematically gendered - feminisation of
poverty.
Women represent disproportionate percentages of the
worlds poor; burden of poverty borne by women in
developing societies. Gender biases; poverty of choices and
opportunities and privilege of basic rights and freedom
Lone mother households; Diana Pearce coined the term and
saw how many women struggled with poverty globally and
in the US. According to Pearce, 2/3 of the worlds poor over
age of 16 were women.
The Gender inequality index
Positivist social scientists want to measure; description is
part of social scientific exercise because accurate
description aid the building of complex causal
models/arguments/stories.
There is no country with full gender equality.
It reflects womens disadvantages in three dimensions:
reproductive health, empowerment (political) and the
labour market.
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Existence of this assumes data is available: it Presupposes
non governmental apparatuses capable of measuring this
data
How much more can you develop were gender inequality
not holding you backwards.
Is the project benevolent or complicit in reproducing
fundamental relations of power across the globe.
Once again world is divided between civilised and
uncivilised.
At country level, losses due to inequality go from Norway
4.5% to over 74% in Yemen. Asia and sub saharan Africa
suffer the greatest losses.
There are very real inequalities that women suffer
systematically. yes; but a convenient story for people who
want to demonise certain parts of the world. Use to justify
acts of aggression or acts of neocolonial admin in places
not passing the tests of human development
Gender inequalities round the world produce the similar
map
The global care chain
Systemically related issues; emancipation of women in the
workplace; means a lot of work women used to do for free
at home, now women of colour are paid to do it for them.
So theres an emancipation of certain types of women
because of where they stand on the global care chain.
Series of personal links between people across the globe
based on paid or unpaid work of caring. Global systematic
patterns of gendered labour and inequality means we are
less optimistic about the stories of gender inequalities.
Half of worlds women between 16-64 are working in paid
jobs.
Growing proportion of women in paid work; moving from
private sphere where work is unpaid to where its paid;
growing trend across the globe.
Relship between export oriented growth and inequality.
Poor parts of the world where countries are threatened
towards export oriented growth by IMF and World Bankquestions whether the policies cause women to suffer or to
emancipate. If it means freedom for women, neoliberals
can use it as a tool to push for opening up economies.
Probability of survival between 18-60
Picketty; general class analytic; what trends in inequality
are like. Look at OECD countries in general
inequality patterns disturbing with regards to life chances
as well as destabilising countries (xenophobia ).
Disturbing trends of inequality are leading to lots of political
instability.
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Their production and reproduction is leading to xenophobic
and racist attitudes driving global wars on terror,
irrationalities with major human consequences
US and UK has massive increases in inequality; as much as
the 1920s - period leading up to great depression
After ww2, global political order put in place to avoid these
problems. Theyd learned that massive inequality created a
fertile ground for massive nationalisms (think Trump, Hitler,
Farage, Le Pen, etc)
Rise of xenophobic nationalist has to do with discrediting
with old social democrats because of their complicity in
propping up a national order that furnished massive
inequalities. Leads to bad results.
Inequality in Britain
Worse in Uk than US. Since 1980s, income inequality was
similar to Sweden, but now its gone up to 28%.
Xenophobic reaction is to see the problem as being caused
by foreigners. Linking the trend to them.
Has returned to where it was to before the great depression
Growth and inequality driven by top 1% of wage incomes.
Why do we are about inequality?
When you have inequality in one general, it tends to
reproduce itself into the next generation, leading to trends
in rising inequality, if it is not systematically challenged.
The more inequality in a country the harder it is to rectify
`the more inequality you have in a country, the more health
and social problems you have.
Trends in inequality among OECD countries
`World is moving towards more inequality
How inequality influences Politics
Bad for health and life chances. Also undermines free
representative political institutions; their ability to work
without needing to seek extra employment.
when economic inequality increases Rigging the system
by changing the rules to suit the m better, thus producing
and reproducing inequality.
Trump epitomises the rule; billionaire rigging the rules
But also opposes it; is not part of the circle
What is neoliberalism?
Theory of political economic practices; human well being
advanced by promoting entrepreneurship characterised by
private property rights etc. (Hervey, p.2)
Neoliberal stat facilitates conditions for capital
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accumulation
Transition from social democratic, embedded institution to a
neoliberal state of unfettered capitalism.
What came before Neoliberalism? embedded
liberalism.
Social democracy came before neoliberalism in advanced
countries. Embedded liberalism. End of ww2, trying to avoid
devastation to make sure it never happened again
Dominant econ formula to overcome crisis of 1970s was to
disembed the economy.
Why did embedded liberalism break down?
(1) Crisis of capital accumulation; broke down in 1970s;
growth of capitalist countries.
Rebuilt europe out of the ashes;
high levels of inflation and high levels of unemployment;
ascent of thatcher and reagan. Promising theyll fix by
dismbedding liberalism and by getting rid of bodies getting
in way of capital accumulation (trade unions)
Political and economic threat to upper classes
Disembedding social relations and subjecting them to the
logic of market relations.
Also a Utopian Economic Project and potent class project
Utopian project to realise theoretical design
Neolib is doctrine used to legitimate things not in a
coherent things.
Hegemonic project/political power grab, but utopian
dream.
Utopian project and class project; how it became
hegemonic.
What does hegemonic mean? Gramscian tradition:
How was sufficient popular consent generated to
legitimise the neoliberal turn?
Its common sense - constructed out of long standing
practices of socialisation.
Neoliberalism is tied to certain kinds of common senses; it
can mobilise certain
Achieved this through a tactic of divide and conquer. Linked
into a reactive resentment of white working class into
achievements of the civil rights movements - can be linked
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to trump and brexit.
A reaction to somethning thats really happening to their
life chances. Mobilised through positives of cultural
socialism and nationalism and negatives of racism,
xenophobia and anti-feminism
We dont point to capitalism and neoliberalism: changing
the subject and blaming the victims. Religiosity and voting
Appeals to a relatively popular base; poor, white and
uneducated. Positively appeals to religious beliefs and
appeals to long traditions of ideological legitimisation of
justifying heinous things like slavery.
Neolib goes in combination with racism.
Continuities; deeper ideological band
Racism is at work; it matters which racial groups youre
categorised as. Shown in ways that are intersecting.
Myth of whiteness - not an innocent myth.
Neoliberal order not one in which racism reproduces itself;
well being is systematically stratified by racial categories.
In neoliberal period we see transformation of racism.
Racism has moved to code; way in which change linked to
neoliberal order. Racism in neoliberal age.
Too much critical race theory remains american academic
based but reproduced idea that what goes on in US matters
the most
The transformation: standard american racism looks form of
segregation, ethnocide of indians; informal apartness,
privatised preferences schemes vs institutionalised
legalities. racism perpetuates itself in accordance with
legalities.
Transformations in Racial Americanization
Racial meanings have animated neoliberal attacks on the
welfare state.
Trope of blacks being leeches of state; irresponsible.
Racisms without racism
Systemically things are getting worse but no one wants to
be called a racist.
Mainstream racial institutions have their racial dimensions
denied.
Thatcher - no such thing as society; ignore
Incarceration of young black men from the ghettos.
Onslaught.
Global trends in Poverty and Inequality (Continent of
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Number of immigrated people in neoliberal period has gone
down (Martin Wolf); too bad for the working class in rich
countries because worse off are getting better
Robert wade: inequality in its own right, relatively is
dangerous because its associated with political instability,
specially in countries where state is susceptible to collapse.
Neoliberalism part of story of collapse of governments.
When you take China out of the picture, absolute poverty
hasnt gone down.
When you look at the likely consequences of climate
change, all the changes are likely to get wiped away
(milanovic)
Looking at country as a unit of analysis across the globe; at
the global level, countries are on the GINI index of
inequality. Its gone up across the globe
On global level, it looks like there are rises of inequality.
Inequality trend is a systematic obstacle to democratic
checks to unfettered accumulation of capital; return to a
plutocratic period
Inequality as a cause for financial crisis; leads to systemic
crisis of capitalism. Rich people refuse to participate in
surveys. Perception of inequality is also an important factor
Political implications
- crowding out of national middle classes, and creation of a
global on
- but middle class is a force for stability when there is a
political community. No political community at the global
level
Hone in on Africa; does the worst on HDI
Not a coincidence due to imperial scramble for Africa
The IMF as an instrumental of neo-colonial domination
Institutions of global governance symbolically behave as
though they were institutions of colonialism
The IMF, the world bank and the WTO as global governing
institutions
IMF loan conditions focus on adjustment programs
Neoliberalism in Africa
undermined africas health (IMF and World Bank(
They have leverage to control policies in those countries;
orienting govt to economic policies at expense of social
programs and long term development
Structural adjustment in Africa
Africa punished in neoliberal period
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Brain drain from poor countries to NGos which offered more
money
Consequences of Struc-Ad important for understanding the
Neoliberal order
Relation between world bank and IMF project and desired
goal of attracting capital
Even according to their own indicators; the reformers are
doing worse
Countries doing well according to neoliberal indictors are
social catastrophes