Course: Introduction to Sociology (SOC 1) · Silver Oak University (fictional sample) · Prof. Adeyemi
Module: Week 9 of 16 · Fall 2026 · in-person, two 75-minute sessions
Objective covered: Objective 5 — Analyze stratification, class, and global inequality, and weigh competing explanations of why some nations are rich and others poor.

This file holds two pieces: (A) the Module 9 Overview page ("Start Here") and (B) the Welcome Announcement that drips out when the module opens. Dates below assume a Tuesday/Thursday session pattern with Week 9 meeting Tue Oct 27 and Thu Oct 29, and end-of-week work due Sunday Nov 1, 11:59 p.m. Adjust the day-of-week and times to match your section.

(A) Module 9 Overview — Start Here

Welcome to Week 9: Global Inequality

This is your home base for the week. Read it first, then work the checklist below from top to bottom. Everything you need is linked inside the module.

Two weeks ago (Week 7) we asked why some people within a society end up rich and others poor. This week we zoom all the way out and ask the same question about whole nations: why is a child's life expectancy, schooling, and income shaped so powerfully by which country they happen to be born in? That is the puzzle of global stratification — the unequal distribution of resources, power, and opportunity between the world's societies. And, exactly as with class, sociology hands you competing explanations rather than one decreed answer: modernization theory, dependency theory, and world-systems theory. Your job this week is to weigh them fairly against the cross-national data.

The week's big question

"Why are some nations rich and others poor — and how would modernization theory and dependency/world-systems theory each answer, using the same global data?"

By Friday you'll be able to describe how development is measured (and why GDP per capita alone is not the whole story), contrast the three explanations of global inequality, and read a real cross-national indicator carefully — without mistaking a correlation for a cause.

By the end of this week, you can…

Use this as a checklist. If you can do all four out loud, you're ready for the quiz.

• [ ] Define global stratification and the World Bank's income groups (low-, lower-middle-, upper-middle-, and high-income nations), and explain how development is measured — GNI/GDP per capita, life expectancy, and schooling (the building blocks of the Human Development Index) — and why no single number captures it.
• [ ] Explain modernization theory (Rostow's stages: development comes from industrializing and adopting modern technology and values) — and the standard critique that it can be ethnocentric.
• [ ] Explain dependency theory (poor nations are kept poor by their dependent, exploited position — a legacy of colonialism) and world-systems theory (Wallerstein's core / semi-periphery / periphery) — and say why both lean conflict.
• [ ] Read a cross-national indicator (e.g., GDP per capita vs. life expectancy) and state what it shows and what it does not — distinguishing a strong correlation from a claim of causation.

What's due this week, and when

Work these in order — each one gets you ready for the next.

Heads-up on the AI tools: you'll use a chatbot to draft and explain, and then you judge its work. This week chatbots love to confuse the two big theories (crediting "core/semi-periphery/periphery" to dependency theory instead of Wallerstein's world-systems theory), to recite an outdated extreme-poverty figure (the World Bank raised the line in 2025 — see the Workshop), and to slide from "richer countries live longer" straight to "getting richer causes longer life." Catching the model is the point.

Late policy reminder: 10% off per day late. If life happens, reach out before the deadline — I'd much rather hear from you early.

How to succeed this week

• Lead with the idea, not the jargon. "Global stratification" is just inequality between countries. "Core/periphery" is just who does the high-profit work and who does the low-wage, raw-materials work in the world economy. Get the picture first; the labels stick after.
• Memorize one tiny map of the debate. Modernization = "look inward and modernize" (the cause of poverty is mostly internal — technology, institutions, values). Dependency / world-systems = "look at the relationship" (poverty comes from a nation's exploited position in a global system shaped by colonialism). Present both fairly — that's the whole skill.
• Don't let one number define a country. GDP per capita is an average and a flow; it hides inequality and says nothing about health, schooling, or who actually holds the income. That's why development is measured several ways at once.
• Watch the cross-national correlation trap. Wealth and life expectancy rise together across countries — a strong, real correlation. That does not, by itself, prove that adding income causes longer life (reverse direction and third variables — public health, sanitation, education — are all in play).
• Treat the chatbot as a smart intern, not an oracle. It drafts; you check every figure, theorist, and causal claim. This week, verify any global statistic at the source — the World Bank or Our World in Data — and confirm the poverty line it's using.

You don't need any background for this week beyond Week 7's stratification basics. Come to class ready to argue about why a child's prospects depend so heavily on the country they're born in. See you Tuesday.

(B) Welcome Announcement — Module 9

Release setting: post on the module's start day (offset = 0 days), i.e., Tue Oct 27, 2026 — not before. If your platform won't preserve the scheduled date on import, post this as a draft labeled "Release: Tue Oct 27."

Subject: Week 9 — why does the country you're born in shape your whole life? 🌍

Hi everyone,

Here's a fact to sit with: a baby's expected lifespan, years of schooling, and income are predicted less by anything about that baby than by one accident — which country they were born in. Last time we asked why some people in a society are rich and others poor. This week we ask the same question about whole nations. That's global stratification.

This week — Global Inequality — we tackle the big question: Why are some nations rich and others poor, and how would modernization theory and dependency/world-systems theory each answer using the same global data? By Friday you'll know how development is measured (and why GDP per capita alone misleads), be able to contrast the three big explanations fairly, and read a real cross-national indicator without confusing correlation with cause.

Four things not to miss:
1. Lecture Tutorial 9 — work the three theories and the development measures with one approved chatbot (Gemini, Claude, or ChatGPT) and submit the share link. Watch it try to credit "core/periphery" to the wrong theory — and correct it. Due Sun Nov 1.
2. Quiz 9, Discussion 9, and Assignment 9 also close Sun Nov 1 — the discussion ("Why Are Some Nations Poor?") is a quick AI dialogue you summarize and post, so start early and leave time to reply to classmates.
3. Workshop 9 — "Reading the Global Gap" — this week is a data workshop: you'll read a real World Bank / Our World in Data cross-national figure, then catch an AI's slips. One heads-up baked in: the World Bank raised its extreme-poverty line in 2025, so any old "$2.15 a day" number a chatbot gives you is stale — you'll verify the current figure at the source. Due Sun Nov 1.
4. Open the Start Here page first — it lays out everything in order with due dates.

One promise: we present the modernization and dependency debates evenhandedly — there is real evidence and a real critique on each side, and your job is to weigh them, not to be handed a verdict. Bring your curiosity (and maybe a strong hunch about why the global rich-poor gap exists) to class on Tuesday.

See you soon,
Prof. Adeyemi