Globalisation, poverty and inequality
Evaluate effects of globalisation on education, income and health in developing countries, assess transnational organisations and compare sociological explanations of global inequality.
Exam scope and assessment notes
Original StudyForA teaching mapped to Cambridge syllabus section 8.1. It is independent study support, not Cambridge material or an awarded grade. Extended written responses are self-checked and have not received human examiner or subject-teacher marking. Use evidence and examples appropriate to learners’ age, cultural context and school policy. Avoid stereotypes and do not ask learners to disclose personal experiences. Sociology presents theories for analysis rather than endorsing political positions.
Before you begin
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
Which evidence best evaluates a programme intended to improve life chances?
What you will learn
- Analyse debates about globalisation and life chances in developing countries, including education, income and health.
- Evaluate transnational organisations' attempts to tackle global inequality.
- Compare explanations involving capitalism, colonialism, post-colonialism and patriarchy.
Life chances involve connected measures
Globalisation may affect education, income and health through trade, employment, investment, migration, public services and access to information. These effects can create opportunities and risks, and they differ within and between countries. ‘Developing countries’ is a broad category; analysis should specify place, group, period and measure rather than treating it as a single experience.
Income, schooling and health are related but not interchangeable. A change in one measure does not establish an overall improvement in life chances. Compare who gains, who bears costs and whether benefits are sustainable and accessible to different groups.
Explanations and organisations need evidence-based evaluation
Capitalist explanations focus on ownership, accumulation and unequal exchange; colonial and post-colonial perspectives examine historical extraction, continuing dependencies and global power; feminist analysis examines patriarchy and gendered access to work and resources. These explanations may overlap, and none should be assumed to explain every case.
Transnational organisations may fund services, coordinate aid, set standards or influence policy. Evaluate their stated aims, resources, accountability, local participation and outcomes. A programme's existence is not evidence of success; comparison and attention to unintended effects are needed.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
Income rises in a region while school access remains unequal. What is the best interpretation?
Worked example
A transnational programme expands school access but has uneven effects on attendance and health across regions. Explain how to evaluate its success.
Show the worked solution
- Define the intended outcomes and the groups or places the programme was designed to reach.
- Compare access, attendance and health measures before and after implementation, accounting for other changes.
- Investigate local participation, distribution of resources and unintended consequences.
Answer Expanded access is evidence of one output, but uneven attendance and health show that the wider outcome needs evaluation. Compare changes across groups and regions, account for other influences and examine whether resources reached intended participants; the programme should not be called wholly successful or ineffective from one indicator.
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Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Exports rise in a region while local wages and school access change differently for different groups. Explain why this is not enough to decide whether globalisation improved life chances.
Give me a hint
Separate economic activity from distribution and from other life-chance measures.
Compare my reasoning
- Export growth shows a change in economic connection or activity, not how gains are distributed.
- Compare income and access across groups and include education and health outcomes.
- Consider other changes and the time period before attributing effects to globalisation.
Export growth may create opportunities, but it does not show who received income or whether education and health improved. Evaluation needs distributional evidence across groups, multiple life-chance measures and consideration of other causes before attributing a change to globalisation.
Look for these in your work
- Distinguishes activity from distribution
- Uses multiple life-chance measures
- Avoids unsupported causal claims
Compare a post-colonial explanation and a feminist explanation for persistent global inequalities.
Give me a hint
One examines historical and continuing global power; the other focuses on patriarchy and gendered access.
Compare my reasoning
- Explain how post-colonial analysis links current patterns to colonial histories and unequal global relations.
- Explain how feminist analysis examines gendered access to work, resources or decision-making.
- Consider how these mechanisms may interact and what evidence would distinguish them in a case.
Post-colonial analysis highlights how colonial histories and continuing power relations may shape development and resource flows. Feminist analysis focuses on patriarchy and unequal gendered access within and across societies. The explanations can interact; evidence should identify mechanisms in the particular setting rather than apply a single label to every inequality.
Look for these in your work
- Describes both explanations
- Shows how they can intersect
- Names case-specific evidence
Evaluate whether transnational organisations are effective in reducing global inequality.
Give me a hint
Consider capacity and coordination alongside accountability, unequal power and measurable outcomes.
Compare my reasoning
- Explain how an organisation can coordinate resources, standards or services across borders.
- Assess distribution, local participation, accountability and unintended effects.
- Compare outcomes across groups and define what ‘reducing inequality’ means.
Transnational organisations can coordinate resources and address problems that cross borders, but their effectiveness depends on who sets priorities, how resources are distributed and whether local groups can hold them accountable. A claim of reduced global inequality needs comparative evidence about outcomes for different groups, not only programme activity or aggregate growth.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies a plausible organisational role
- Evaluates accountability and distribution
- Defines outcomes and uses comparative evidence
Common mistakes
- Treating a country's average as every resident's experience
- Assuming globalisation always reduces or always increases poverty
- Equating an organisation's stated aim or activity with successful outcomes
What can you explain now?
Why examine education, income and health separately?
Compare with the explanation
They are distinct dimensions of life chances and may change differently across groups.
A single indicator cannot establish an overall change in wellbeing or inequality.
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Make it stick
Name three life-chance measures; distinguish capitalism, post-colonialism and patriarchy as explanatory lenses; give two criteria for evaluating a transnational programme.
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