Globalisation, migration and global inequality
Analyse how migration, transnational firms and ecological change connect societies, and compare explanations of persistent global inequality.
Exam scope and assessment notes
This lesson is written for Cambridge IGCSE Sociology 0495. It maps section 3.3 in the 2025–2027 Version 3 and 2028–2030 Version 1 syllabuses; Cambridge reports no significant teaching changes for 2028–2030. Use current, credible and age-appropriate examples from more than one society. Check local law and school policy before discussing sensitive or legally restricted family, marriage, crime or punishment examples. Do not ask learners to disclose personal experiences. These lessons present sociological explanations for analysis, not endorsements of political positions or stereotypes.
Before you begin
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
Before you start: Which statement best describes a pull factor?
What you will learn
- Explain immigration, emigration, push and pull factors, diversity, economic consequences and perceptions of migrants.
- Assess transnational companies, climate change, pollution and urbanisation as global influences.
- Compare Marxist exploitation, colonialism and feminist patriarchy as explanations for global inequalities.
Migration has varied effects
Immigration is movement into a society; emigration is movement out. Push factors may make a place difficult to remain in, while pull factors attract people elsewhere. Economic consequences can include changes in skills, labour supply, remittances and public services, but effects depend on policy and local conditions.
Migration can increase cultural diversity and also generate negative perceptions or political debate. Distinguish evidence about actual outcomes from stereotypes about migrants.
Global connections and explanations
Transnational companies operate across borders and can affect work, investment and supply chains. Climate change, pollution and urbanisation cross or reshape social boundaries, with unequal exposure and capacity to respond.
Marxist explanations focus on unequal economic relationships and capitalist exploitation; colonialism highlights historical extraction and power; feminist accounts examine global gendered divisions and patriarchy. Compare evidence across places and avoid reducing complex outcomes to one cause.
Sources for this lesson
Pause and explain
Why compare the local effects of a transnational company instead of assuming a universal outcome?
Worked example
A factory moves production to a lower-income country and employs local workers, while selling most products abroad. Use two perspectives to frame questions about the effects.
Show the worked solution
- A Marxist analysis might examine who controls production, receives profits and bears costs.
- A global inequality analysis could include wages, job opportunities, working conditions and local tax or supplier effects.
- A feminist analysis might ask how paid work and unpaid care are distributed by gender; local evidence is required.
Answer The perspectives generate testable questions; none alone determines the factory's effects.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
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.
A coastal community receives workers from other regions while also experiencing climate-related relocation. Explain how the two movements may have different social effects.
Give me a hint
Distinguish labour migration from displacement and include local capacity and policy.
Compare my reasoning
- Identify the different reasons and timeframes for each movement.
- Consider labour, housing, services, networks, cultural exchange and the needs of people who relocate.
- Use local evidence and avoid assuming that migrants or receiving communities have one uniform experience.
Work-related migration and climate-related relocation may involve different choices, risks and support needs. Their effects depend on scale, resources, rights, local services and policy; the labels alone do not predict outcomes.
Look for these in your work
- Distinguishes reasons and conditions
- Considers effects on more than one group
- Avoids generalising
Compare a Marxist and a feminist question about a global supply chain that uses low-paid labour.
Give me a hint
One examines class and profit relations; the other examines gendered power and labour.
Compare my reasoning
- A Marxist question could examine ownership, control of production and how value and profit are distributed.
- A feminist question could examine gendered job access, pay, safety and unpaid care around the work.
- Both require evidence from workers, firms and local context; neither should assume all workers have identical experiences.
Marxism foregrounds class and ownership; feminism foregrounds gendered power and labour. The perspectives can complement each other, and claims should be tested against local evidence.
Look for these in your work
- Distinct analytical focus for each
- Connects theory to evidence
- Allows overlap
A news story links rapid urbanisation to pollution in one city. What evidence would help assess whether the pattern reflects global ecological issues rather than a single local cause?
Give me a hint
Compare time, places, sources and alternative explanations.
Compare my reasoning
- Check comparable pollution measures over time and across cities or regions.
- Examine population growth, industry, transport, regulation, weather and data quality.
- Assess the contribution of wider production and consumption links while recognising local policy and infrastructure.
Comparable data and evidence about local and cross-border causes help distinguish a broad pattern from a city-specific change. Urbanisation may contribute, but it does not alone establish the cause of pollution.
Look for these in your work
- Requests comparable evidence
- Includes local and global factors
- Avoids a single-cause claim
Common mistakes
- Treating migration as only an economic cost or benefit
- Assuming transnational firms have identical effects everywhere
- Explaining global inequality without considering historical and gendered relations
What can you explain now?
Why compare the local effects of a transnational company instead of assuming a universal outcome?
Compare with the explanation
Jobs, profits, working conditions and public effects vary by context
Every company affects all communities in exactly the same way
After trying it yourself, choose your next review. This is your self-assessment.
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Make it stick
Define one push and one pull factor and name two different explanations for global inequality.
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.