Movements in the Periphery/Semi-periphery: An Exploration of China’s Influence on Stratification in the World-Economy

• In Event: 118 - Section on Economic Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 10. Precarious Work and Social Stratification

Abstract

This paper addresses the relationship between China and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in terms of global economic stratification. Utilizing gross national income per capita (GNI) data spanning 1990 to 2010, we attempt to place China and SSA in the context of peripheral and semiperipheral development. Our results show that despite an initial conformity to trimodal distribution, as China begins to experience significant economic growth there are dramatic changes in the shape of the distribution of population as a function of GNI per capita. We then try to determine whether there is a ‘China effect’ on SSA given their increasing involvement through trade, foreign direct investment and foreign aid. We find that, for the most part, individual resource-rich countries that are heavily involved with China have successfully advanced in the trimodal hierarchy of the world-system. However, as a group SSA continues to remain in the tail end of the distribution; that is, while there has been absolute economic improvement for some countries, on a whole SSA has not seen any major changes with majority of the world’s poorest remaining in that region. Finally, we look at the cases of Zimbabwe, Botswana, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea whose movements and/or non-movements raise questions about the role of the semi-periphery in the world-economy.

Author

• Marilyn Grell-Brisk, Universite de Neuchatel