Global Inequality: Economic Disparities and Social Exclusion

The Impact of Globalization on Social Inequality

Those most affected by globalization: The potential of technological advances and the growing ties between regions and communities around the world coexist with social and economic exclusion of alarming proportions. For example, in the global market, there are more than one billion people living in absolute poverty, some 800 million people go hungry daily, and 150 million children under 5 are malnourished.

This situation is not confined to regions far from the centers of the world economy. In developed countries, we see growing unemployment, poverty, social marginalization, increased juvenile crime, violence, urban insecurity, and problems with transport, health, and housing affecting a significant proportion of the population.

In advanced Western capitalist countries, the contemporary German intellectual Peter Glotz describes a "two-thirds society", where two-thirds of the population has access to labor and consumption, while the remaining third is unemployed, underemployed, or stuck in precarious, underpaid jobs, marginalized from full participation in social and political life. This situation is exacerbated in countries with fewer resources.

Developed and Developing Countries

Traditionally, countries have been classified according to their wealth. The wealth of a country is the amount of goods and services it can produce to satisfy the needs of its inhabitants. Economics and sociology utilize the concepts of development and underdevelopment to assess the situation of different countries around the world.

• Developed countries: Nations that, beyond providing wealth and welfare, offer guarantees of respect for human rights, justice, and education.
• Developing countries: Nations often viewed as being in a preliminary stage of economic growth.

However, despite significant efforts, programs, and projects for development, the gap between wealthy and poor countries, instead of shrinking, is growing increasingly.