...2010). In 2008, inequality again rose (to a Gini coefficient of 0.52), as did poverty (World Bank, undated [c]). A 2008 report indicates not only that Mexico ranked last in income equality among all OECD countries but also that Mexico's inequality is strictly greater than that for all OECD countries across all deciles in the income distribution. That is, Mexico's income distribution from top to bottom is worse than that of any other OECD country" (Aguila, 2012, p.104-05). Figure 10.2 displays the share of the population with different levels of education and the income share of those education groups in 1994 and 2002. "A positive trend in educational achievement is suggested by this figure because the percentage of individuals in the two...
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...Poor people of Mexico spend their days trying to survive, searching for food, while the upper class have people making their food for them. Mexico became independent in 1810 but the church and Spanish Nationals owned most of the land. In 1840 the president of Mexico, Benito Juarez granted land to people living on it. By the 1960s, Mexico City was rapidly industrializing creating factories and jobs. When it comes to the topic of spatial inequality in Mexico City, most will agree it exists because of the city's rapid expansion. Urbanization has increased at a rapid rate because of the many people who have moved to the capital due to rural decline. Rural decline is one of the reasons spatial inequality exists. Not much land is suitable...
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...Taquanya Ward Professor Twitty SO 234 AO 02/19/16 Thinking Sociologically Chapter 2 Assignment 5. Look up the most recent data you can find on income distribution by quintiles in your society. Is your society more like Mexico or more like Japan in its degree of inequality? - We live in a world of staggering and unprecedented income inequality. Nothing could be further from the truth than the idea that poverty is increasing. However, America has a higher degree of income inequality than almost any other developed country. Most countries spend a bigger share of their national output on social programs, which tend to decrease income inequality. The U.S. is less effective at reducing inequality through taxes and benefits, making us higher than both Mexico and Japan. Trade is much higher than Mexico than Japan so our society would be similar in more aspects of Mexico. 6. Use Merton’s strain theory to explain why crime rates are so high in Mexico. Can you compare crime rates in your own society with crime rates in Mexico? Explain sociologically why crime rate are higher or lower in your society than in Mexico....
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...few decades, research has shown a clear connection between the ideals of neoliberalism and social inequality. According to A Brief History of Neoliberalism, neoliberalism is defined as a theory of political economic practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills within an institutional framework characterized by strong property rights, free markets, and free trade. Beginning in the 1970s and 1980s as political philosophy rooted in classical liberalism with a focus on free markets and economic growth, the definition of neoliberalism has changed quite a bit over the last few decades. The evolutionary dynamic of neoliberaliztion has been such as to force adaptations that have varied greatly from place to place as well as over time. Any attempt to piece together a picture of what a typical neoliberal state looks like today would prove to be a difficult task. The somewhat chaotic evolution and uneven geographical development of state institutions, powers, and functions over the last thirty years suggests that the neoliberal state may be an unstable contradictory political form. The effects of this economic philosophy are especially obvious in Latin America, where many nations faced debt crises directly related to neoliberalism. The overall result was an awkward mix of low growth and increasing income inequality. In Latin America, where the first wave of forced neoliberalization struck in the early 1980s,...
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...The Origins of Power, Prosperity And Poverty By: Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson This book tells about the town of Nogales which located between the U.S and Mexico borders. The city has the same ethnic, political, geographical, and climate situation which adopted by the Mexican and American style. However, there is one big differences between the North and South side of Nogales, the prosperous and wealth condition between them. The North side which stand for the U.S border, have good health condition of the residents and good sanitating system supported by the welfare and the wealthy condition of the population of the North side itself. On the other hand, the South side share very same condition as their foreign neighbours, Mexico. The health and sanitation condition is bad and the population itself have high stress condition and low rate of living age since they have low wealth condition. The books try to find a way of how can a city with same demographic and geographical condition can have such social inequality which focusing on the adapted countries (U.S and Mexico). The root of all the inequality based on the colonization era of both countries in 1950s, whereas Aztecs and Inca (ancestors of mexico) being undertake by Spanish kingdom by taking their elder into custody and force the people of Mexico into doing labor force since they have tight population but without any law and resources such as gold, nickel, etc. Meanwhile, England, led by John Smith, colonialized...
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...The percentage for income inequality unfortunately is 48.2%. The goal is to reduce this amount to at least 15% or lower by investing more in education. Investments in education will increase economic mobility by increasing the knowledge of individuals which would have them acquire skills to increase productivity. This increase in productivity would be able to close the wage gap and thus decrease wage inequality. This then can influence change in wanting to increase the minimum wage because more attractive workers are being created do to the increase in education. By raising the minimum wage the gap which creates the income inequality from having workers who work a lot of hours for only a couple of dollars and company owners who make millions...
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...for capital invests so that countries such as Mexico could improve economically. In this section, we will look into the impacts of NAFTA on the lives of Mexicans with focus on the economic lives. We also determine the attainment of the objectives of NAFTA NAFTA did not bear any resemblance to the forecasts and the expectations of the agreement. The agreement was not a solution to the unemployment challenges in mexico.it was not helpful in raise the average wages of the Mexicans or reducing the flow of Mexican immigrants to the US. It was however useful in...
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...La Malinche played a crucial role in forming what is presently known as Mexico. During the century XVI the indigenous princess was born into an aristocratic family until she was sold “como un esclava a los aztecas.” Quickly the beauty and intelligence of La Malinche set herself apart from the other slaves. Thus when the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, arrived Malinche was presented as a useful present. Her previous knowledge of the Nahuah and Mayan languages and her rapid proficiency in Spanish made her Cortes’s ideal translator and consultant. La Malinche continuously proved her loyalty throughout the Spanish conquest. Not only did Malinche warn Cortes of possible ambushes (emboscadas) but she also convinced gente to form an alliance against Montezuma, the Aztec emperor. Over time, Malinche formed a relationship with Cortes and eventually gave birth to his son. The son of Malinche and Cortes marks beginning of the mestizo race, which dominates the population of Mexico in this day in age. Malinche “fue testigo del fin de una civilizacion y el augue de otra nueva y se convirtió en la madre simbólica del Nuevo group étnico” que shapes Mexico today. The role of La Malinche in the construction of present day Mexico is both revered and condemned. Historically, the consensus was that the traitorous alliance between Malinche and the Spanish conquerors was unforgivable. Recently, however, many have attempted to rewrite the unjust reputation of la “Eva Mexicana...
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...Gloria Anzaldúa's Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza is a much so divided passage that attests the unpredictability of living in the psychic, social, and social territory some place in the middle of México and the United States. With Gloria Anzaldúa calling the United States/Mexico border "una herida abierta", an open wound, is actually justifiable. The agony and delight of the borderlands, maybe no more noteworthy or lesser than the feelings mixed by living anyplace contradictions proliferate, societies conflict and merge, and life is existed on an edge; which originate from a wound that won't mend but is perpetually recuperating. These grounds have dependably been here; the waterway of individuals has streamed for a considerable length...
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...Introduction Income inequality means that the income is distributed in an uneven manner among a population. It generally refers to a society which the income gap between individuals or groups and also the international wealth gap. The percentage of income to a population is often presented by income inequality. It’s also considered as the gap between the rich and others and has been obviously growing for recently years. There have measures for income inequality. It’s important to view this data sets and measures as it can show the differences of a country, especially the advantages and disadvantages. Income inequality should have a clearer data or picture to explain the differences and can be also obtained by using those measures. The “Gini Coefficient” can measure income inequality. Gini Coefficient is the way to measure the distribution of nation residents’ income. Corrado Gini (Italian statistician and sociologist) is the person who developed and published it. The among values of distribution will be measured by Gini coefficient such as income levels. If everyone has the same income, it will be shown as Zero (perfect equality) in the Gini coefficient. Conversely, if Gini coefficient shows one mean that only got one person have the income, as know as perfect inequality. In the United States, there has been growing obviously for income inequality and the gap between rich and others. According to the report of Gini coefficient, united States have the high income inequality and continuously...
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...Social Inequality What is social inequality? What are the sources of social inequality? For me, social inequality cannot be described in one sentence. Factors such as race, wealth, class, gender, age, among others all play roles into why people can sometimes be treated unfairly. However before I introspectively reflect on social inequality, there is one theory that suggests where today’s society is heading for me. Karl Marx is known as a prominent economic and political influence that lived during the 19th century. Marx’s theory of stratification is very applicable to where society, especially in the United States, is heading today. According to Marx, society would become divided into two classes, the dominant capitalist or the working class. Essentially the capitalists consist of the owners of production within a country while the working class consists of the laborers. This represents uneven distribution of wealth and resources, which creates a system of stratification. According to Professor Domhoff of the University of California, the top 20% of the workforce owned 89% of all privately held wealth in the United States as of 2010. There is already a large gap between social classes and will only continue to get worse if we continue down the same path as a nation. Whether through higher taxes on the wealthy or tax breaks on the working class, the gap needs to be closed. Money is king of today’s society whether people want to admit it or not. For me I think the uneven...
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...refers to the areas of America in which the Spanish or Portuguese languages prevail. These areas include Mexico, most of Central and South America, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Brazil. Latin America can be subdivided into different regions, such as North America, South America, Central America and the Caribbean. (Wikipedia, Retrieved 2010). Latin America consists of many different ethnic backgrounds and races. It is one of the most diverse regions in the world. Some of the predominant races/backgrounds include European-Amerindians (Mestizo), Amerindians, European, Mulatto, Black, Asian and Zambo (mixed Black and Amerindian). Latin America continues to be challenged by inequality and poverty. Poverty is defined as, “the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions.” (Merriam-Webster, Retrieved 2010). According to the World Bank, nearly 25% of the population of Latin America lives on less than $2.00 a day. At least 182 million people are living in poverty in Latin America and at least 68 million people are living in extreme poverty. Poverty is defined as living on less than $2.15 per person per day and extreme poverty as living on less than $1.08 per person per day. “The poverty rate in Latin America was halved from 60% in 1950 to less than 30% in 2000. However, during the same time period income inequality remained more or less the same, making both poverty reduction and economic growth more difficult; as...
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...Global inequality involves the concentration of resource in certain nations; significantly affected the opportunities of individuals in poorer and less powerful countries. During the cold war, countries were classified as a first, second, third, or fourth world country. Countries were classified based on the amount of resources and money the country had as a whole. First world countries were considered in the best shape and the idea of noblesse oblige was brought up. It meant that the classified first world countries would provide foreign aid to the less-developed and underdeveloped nations in order to raise their standard of living. The World Bank defines how these higher income nations of having a gross pay of at least $12,276. Due to the high income in some countries, two main issues will arise. The first issue is Capital flight and it is the movement of capital...
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...Although Latin America has faced many social, political, and economic issues within the last three centuries, inequality remains one of the most important, historical, and omnipresent aspects of the region’s culture. As Europeans took over Latin America during the time of colonization, they implemented many elitist social structures that have held strong and are evident today (Harris). Income inequality is the most visible and greatest disparity that the region faces; yet inequality between gender, ethnicities, and education remain strong and significant problems with a necessity for improvement. Inequality of wealth and disparity of power and influence are Latin American’s greatest curses and are at the root of many of the developmental, social, criminal, and political problems that continue to plague the region (De Ferranti). Since inequality has pervaded into every feature of Latin American society, it is important to measure inequality accurately in order to obstruct the causes of the discrimination and prevent new ones from beginning. The Gini Coefficient is an effective way that people indicate the inequality of a country by measuring a frequency distribution of income or wealth. Using the "Gini Index" of inequality in the distribution of income and consumption, the researchers found that Latin America and the Caribbean, from the 1970s through the 1990s, measured nearly 10 points more unequal than Asia, 17.5 points more unequal than the 30 countries in the Organization...
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...Akhil Kaushal P According to The Transparency International 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index: • Most honest countries – Finland, New Zealand, Iceland, Denmark and Singapore • Most corrupt countries – Haiti, Guinea, Myanmar, Iraq, Bangladesh, Chad, Congo and Sudan • China, Brazil, Ghana, Senegal, Peru, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, India and Egypt all rank in the middle Lack of resources Explosive population growth Need stronger and more effective institutions Lack of democracy Ineffective judiciary Unfair elections Lack of free media From The Bulging Pocket and the Rule of Law: Corruption, Inequality, and Trust Inequality –> Low generalized trust & High in-group trust –> Corruption –> Inequality The dilemma of low trust in strangers and high trust only in your own group Inequality and in-group trust lead to clientelism This pattern is difficult to break Two types of inequality: Economic inequality Unfair legal system Makes it more difficult for the poor to have access to the legal system Shielding people at the top Democratic institutions are not sufficient to curb corruption Media consumption, centralization, federalism, the nature of the electoral system, the level of wages paid to officials also don't matter Structural reforms may not matter much for corruption, however: • Democratic countries are far less corrupt than nondemocracies • Countries with strong democratic...
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