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Globalization Has Severely Reduced The Barriers That Exist Between Countries

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Globalization has severely reduced the barriers that exist between countries. As a result, countries can share a variety of ideas and information which has greatly increased innovation and the capabilities of business. However, globalization has created an economic divide between countries and facilitated inequality throughout the globe. Global inequality refers to the disparity in wealth between countries, which creates an array of problems for low income countries; global inequality can be perceived from a World Systems Theory, which asserts inequality stems from countries exploiting one another, or from a Modernization Theory, which articulates low income countries need to adapt to modern values and institutions to escape inequality. …show more content…

In the Global North, consumption often appears as conspicuous consumption, which describes obtaining expensive goods that perform worse than cheaper goods merely to show status. An example of this is to use fine china for fancy meals despite its tendency to break easily (Conspicuous Consumption and Your iPhone). This starkly contrasts consumption in the Global South, where individuals are often exposed to a much smaller market and are forced to be satisfied with whatever goods they can attain. Low income countries produce more and consume less, which could lead someone to falsely assume these countries will experience upward mobility. However, because the capitalist system emphasizes profit and a large portion of corporations are based in the Global North, the profits go to countries in the Global North who continue to flourish.
In the World Systems Theory, Immanuel Wallerstein observes the world economy as a single entity and articulates how industrialized countries exploit agrarian, undeveloped countries in the world economy. Wallerstein asserts that in the world market for goods and labor, the relations between the most powerful countries have created a division of the population into economic classes of capitalists and workers, in addition to dividing the world into three unequal economic zones. He depicted core, industrialized countries, such as the United States, as having political and

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