Inequality discussion forum

Each posting should be no less than six complete sentences (minimum 150 words)

Describe the trend in global inequality over the course of the last century. Based on where we have been and where we are now, predict where the world may be a century from now. What prediction would modernization theory support? What about dependency theory? What do you think will happen? Why?

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Provide a response to 2 classmates

The responses to classmates should be no less than three complete sentences (minimum100 words) and should contain some substantive information.

#1 Classmate Alyssa

I believe global inequality has increased over the last century and will continue to do so going forward. I do not believe closing the gap will be as simple as cultures adjusting their attitudes towards work as modernization theory suggests. While I do think that if poorer nations became more industrialized that would make a significant difference, as stated in the dependency theory, I am not sure if this would be possible because I do not believe the core nations will ever cease from exploiting lower income nations. And even if they did, I am not sure if many nations would want to become more industrialized. While the spreading out of wealth is ideal and I think I can safely say everyone wants to live carefree of worrying about the essentials (shelter, water, food, etc) some cultures may not have the drive to flourish the same way financially, as say America does, because their values and needs may be different. Overall, I do believe that if we keep going in the same direction of exploiting weaker nations and their resources, the stronger nations will continue to increase the gap unless there is a complete shift in the way we think and care for others.

#2 Classmate Zaid

The Inequality has been getting worse and worse. "Today, the top mega wealthy -- the top 1% -- earn an average of $1.3 million a year. It's more than three times as much as the 1980s, when the rich "only" made $428,000" (Link (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.). This means that the top 1 percent practically own more than the rest of all together. This is because of how much people are currently making which is 16 thousand dollars. This will most likely get worse and worse if you look at the past and now you can see it worsening, 50 percent of american population makes an average of $16 thousand dollars a year. "Millennials, born in the 1980s, only have a 50% likelihood -- a coin toss chance -- of earning more money than their parents did"(Link (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.). This means that the "American Dream" that we all have is most likely not going to happen. I feel like that the rich will only get richer and the poor will accumulate making a big inequality. by modernization theory the poorer countries like Egypt and other poor countries can look at the richer countries like America or European countries and start copying and start growing like how America and the other richer countries did. For the dependency theory the poorer countries will look at other countries and will take help and "notes". In a century I think that poor countries will get richer because of the help from other countries just like how we helped Germany after World War 2.