FREE ESSAY ON GLOBAL STRATIFICATION: A SOCIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION

GLOBAL STRATIFICATION: A SOCIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION

The industrialization and technology of the world's higher income nations has a negative
effect on the plight of the world's poorer nations. The high-income nations'
industrialization encourages child labor, poor living conditions in exchange for material
things, and higher world pollution.
When the higher income nations became industrialized in the 1800's, the lower income
nations were slow to catch up. Now, the low and middle-income countries are trying to
catch up to the rapid growth that the world powers had. One drawback to this is many
families, to earn as much money as possible, encourage their children to go to work in
sweat shops, for little pay. This puts them at a great risk of accident, and shortens
their life span by causing them to toil endlessly in a hot, vermin infested, disease
rampant factory whilst still children. 
The sociological inequality illustrated by the norm of living for children in different
countries is astounding. In the United States, children spend their summers in front of a
television or computer, swimming in the public pool, or "hanging out" with their friends.
Children in low-income countries, such as those in Southeast Asia spend their summer days
in a factory for ten hours, making tennis shoes on insufficient food, and for few dollars
a day.
If you were to walk down the street in one of the world's middle-income countries, like
those in Eastern Europe, you would see signs of the (wealthy) Western nations all around.
Teenagers would be sporting Levi's and Nikes, stereos would be blasting music by the
Spice Girls and the Beatles, and families would aspire to drive someday a Jeep into the
driveway of their hovel. However, when you get back to their residence, the similarity to
the West would end. Running water would not be safe to drink without going through a
stringent filtering process, space in the cramped home would be at a premium, and the
home itself may most likely be in decrepit shape. The striving for Western goods puts
personal hygiene and safe, comfortable living space to the "back seat" in favor of
displays of conspicuous consumption.
The image that the high-income countries projects to those of lower income is that of
nations where everyone owns a car and commutes to work in the city, while enjoying the
pleasantries of the wealthy. Many people in middle-income countries drive cars that lack
the pollution controlling devices required of cars in high-income countries. Although
fewer in number, these cars have the capacity to do much more harm to the environment.
For example, Mexico City often has a warning that the pollution level in the city (due to
emissions from vehicles) is unsafe for human breathing.
Due to the influence of wealthy high-income nations, many of the middle and low-income
nations have reversed priorities. Instead of mimicking the ways of those in the wealthy
countries at the expense of their own societies, they should be trying to improve their
economies in order to compete with the high-income countries.
In most high-income countries, few children, due to successful birth control, is the
rule. However, in many middle and low-income countries the people lack the knowledge or
resources to effective birth control, and many children for each family is standard. If
the population growth continues, there is going to be a substantial lack of food
resources for all of the world's population. 
If all of the societies in the world were as advanced as the United States, the world
would be different in many aspects. The technology that could be created by the resources
of all of the world's people (as opposed to just a few rich in the high-income countries)
could possibly solve many of the world's problems, including pollution, overpopulation,
and nuclear proliferation. If all of the world's societies were at the same level, we
would have a lot more cooperation between them, as there would not be as much conflict.
I am optimistic towards the future changes of the world, as I believe that the societies
of the world are working toward a more even sociological playing field and greater
equality of resources for the world's people. If the low and middle-income nations work
toward curbing population explosion and work toward strengthening their economies, I
believe that the world could possibly, in the next 200 years, be made of one homogeneous,
wealthy culture.