Week 9 — Readings & Resources · Global Inequality

Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Adeyemi
Objective covered: Objective 5 — Analyze stratification, class, and global inequality, and weigh competing explanations of why some nations are rich and others poor.

How to use this page

Everything here is a link to an external resource — open it in your browser, the same way you'd open a YouTube link. Nothing needs to be downloaded, and there is nothing to buy.

This week pairs two short videos + 2–3 brief readings with the discipline's authoritative data portals (the World Bank and Our World in Data). Read or watch one item per group and you're ready for the quiz; do all of them and you'll be very comfortable. Total time is roughly 45–55 minutes if you do everything, far less if you pick one per group.

Reading order that matches the lecture: ① global stratification + how we measure development → ② the three theories (modernization vs. dependency vs. world-systems) → ③ read the cross-national data yourself.

A habit to start now: before you trust any global statistic — in these readings, in the news, or from a chatbot — ask the sociologist's questions from class: What's measured? Over what population and year? What does it show — and not? Which poverty line is this, and is it current? Correlation or causation?

① Global Stratification & Measuring Development

Maps to Lecture Segment 2. Global stratification is inequality between nations; "development" is measured several ways at once — income (GNI/GDP per capita), health (life expectancy), and schooling (the HDI building blocks). The World Bank sorts countries into income groups.

Video — "Global Stratification & Poverty: Crash Course Sociology #27"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rts_PWIVTU
Why it earns the click: a ~10-minute tour of global stratification, how nations are grouped by income, and what global poverty looks like — exactly Segment 2. Hosted by Nicole Sweeney.
⏱ ~10 min

Reference — "How does the World Bank classify countries by income?" (Our World in Data)
🔗 https://ourworldindata.org/world-bank-income-groups-explained
Why it's assigned: the cleanest plain-language explainer of the low-/lower-middle-/upper-middle-/high-income groups we used in class — what GNI per capita is and how the thresholds work. Free to read online.
⏱ ~8 min

② The Three Theories — Modernization vs. Dependency vs. World-Systems

Maps to Lecture Segments 3–4. Modernization (Rostow's stages; develop by industrializing — leans functionalist) vs. dependency theory (poverty from a dependent, colonial-legacy position) vs. world-systems theory (Wallerstein's core / semi-periphery / periphery — both lean conflict).

Video — "Theories of Global Stratification: Crash Course Sociology #28"
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b350ljkYWrU
Why it earns the click: walks through modernization theory (including Rostow's stages) and the dependency / world-systems alternative, side by side — the central debate of the week. Hosted by Nicole Sweeney.
⏱ ~10 min

Reading — "Theoretical Perspectives on Global Stratification" (OpenStax, Introduction to Sociology 3e, §10.3)
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/10-3-theoretical-perspectives-on-global-stratification
Why it's assigned: lays out modernization theory and dependency theory (with the world-systems core/periphery picture) one at a time — including the standard ethnocentrism critique of modernization — the same evenhanded treatment we gave in class.
⏱ ~12 min

③ Read the Cross-National Data Yourself

Maps to Lecture Segment 6 and the Workshop. Sociology runs on evidence — and global evidence lives in interactive charts. Use these to see the rich-poor gap, then practice the four read-the-data questions on a real indicator.

Data — "Life expectancy vs. GDP per capita" (Our World in Data, interactive chart)
🔗 https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/life-expectancy-vs-gdp-per-capita
Why it's assigned: the single best picture of the week's data beat — each dot is a country; richer countries tend to have higher life expectancy (a strong correlation). Hover the dots, change the year, and ask what it shows — and what it doesn't (this is the Workshop skill).
⏱ ~8 min

Data — "Poverty" topic page (Our World in Data)
🔗 https://ourworldindata.org/poverty
Why it's assigned: the authoritative home for global extreme-poverty data — and the place to confirm the current International Poverty Line (raised to $3 a day in June 2025) before you ever quote a poverty figure. Use it for the Workshop.
⏱ ~8 min

Optional one-stop reference (free online text)

If you'd like one optional reference, OpenStax Introduction to Sociology 3e is free to read online. Chapter 10 ("Global Inequality") covers everything in this week — global stratification, how nations are classified, and the theoretical perspectives.
🔗 https://openstax.org/books/introduction-sociology-3e/pages/10-introduction-to-global-inequality
Why it's here: a reputable, currently-available reference you can return to — entirely optional this week.

Pick-one quick path (≈20 min total)

In a hurry? Do exactly these two and you'll be ready for the quiz:
1. Watch Crash Course Sociology #28 — Theories of Global Stratification (group ②).
2. Skim Theoretical Perspectives on Global Stratification (group ②) and open the Life expectancy vs. GDP per capita chart (group ③) to see the gap for yourself.

Heads-up (links rot, and data updates): these point to outside sites that occasionally move or rename pages, and the data portals update their figures — always read the year and the definition on the page rather than trusting a number from memory. If a link ever fails, tell Prof. Adeyemi and use the OpenStax reference above in the meantime. These links are provided for access only — no claim is made about their licensing or reuse terms.