Volume 2, Review 3, 1996

York W. Bradshaw and Michael Wallace.  GLOBAL INEQUALITIES.
Thousand Oaks, California: Pine Forge Press, 1996.  xv+223 pp.  ISBN
0-8039-9060-X, $18.95 (paper).

Reviewed by
Robert J.S. Ross, Department of Sociology, Clark University,
Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

v. 8/12/96


     After an introductory chapter this text book introduces
selected dimensions of global inequality.  It shows that child
health and mortality are highly variable between income groupings
of nations, and that income levels also vary greatly.  Other
correlates of national income are portrayed, i.e., fertility and
college and secondary school attendance.  Trends on a global level
are then presented.  These range from the bland (environmental
awareness is growing in the US and the world) to the obscure
(formal political structures are becoming fragmented despite the
consolidation of the world economy).  This latter engenders a
discussion of terrorism which strays widely from the core idea of
ethnic devolution after the break up of the Cold War.  While the
chapter does not represent a systematic or comprehensive
assessment of the appropriate dimensions of a global
stratification analysis, it does introduce the student to the
broad implications of gross domestic product per capita.  Only
later will the authors take up intra-national distribution
issues.
     From this selective overview of inequality, the authors go
on to examine two competing explanations for global inequality:
modernization theory and world system theory.

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     The presentation of modernization theory is good - succinct
and to the point:  they call it blaming the victim.  Their
critique is weak.  For example, they say modernization theory has
some good ideas but do not state which ones (later it turns out
that the ones they think relevant are the importance of local
corruption and incompetence in the determination of GNP growth).
They also contend that modernization theory overestimates the
capacity of poor countries to develop.  That statement is then
followed by a list of 10 rapidly developing countries and the
observation that US aid to the poorest countries in Africa is less
than US consumers spend on beer (p. 45).  These are major league
non sequitur.
     The explication of world-system theory is not so succinct nor
to the point.  It wanders, in midstream, for example, into the
barbarities of African enslavement and its similarity, in
emotional terms, to the genocide of Europe's Jews.  In describing
the role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in world-system
theory, Bradshaw and Wallace gloss over the theoretical tension
(and controversy) involved in noting the exploitation of cheap
manufacturing (as distinct from extractive) labor in peripheral
and semi-peripheral areas.  In relation to this point they
explicate the deindustrialization perspective as part of world-
system theory - a chancy interpretation at best.  Their critique
of world-system theory is somewhat more to the point than their
critique of modernization theory, but it is not complete nor in
all instances appropriate.  They argue that when scholars visit
poor countries they come to conclude that the corruption and
inefficiencies they see bear some responsibility for the economic
problems around them.  They also claim that international debt
problems are not attended to by world-system theory, which, they
say, puts too much focus on foreign investment.  They mention
Firebaugh's work which challenges the finding of negative
empirical effects of MNC investment noted by most world-system
analysts.  And they claim that ethnic conflict, not just economic
exploitation, are major problems in developing countries;

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environmental issues likewise.  Why environmentalists' ideas about
debt for environmental protection swaps should "disprove" world-
system theory is not clear to this reader.
     In short, Bradshaw and Wallace offer critiques of world-
system theory which do not go to the heart of the theoretical
controversies which actually surround the theory, and they mix in
some empirical matters which do not, in themselves, challenge
world-system theory at all (e.g., environmental issues).  Finally,
they neglect to note the importance of the changing structure of
world manufacturing to a long range evaluation of world-system
theory.
     The authors propose to combine modernization and world-system
theory.  In practice that means they intend to blame the poor
countries for part of their poverty, not all of it.  They wish to
combine, as they put it, a view which acknowledges both external
(world-system) and internal (modernization) approaches.  The
themes they announce in this combination are not hypotheses or
theories, but "approaches," sometimes attitudes, as in:  "Theme 4:
Demonstrate more respect for non-Western cultures" (p. 55); or
"Theme 5:  Place greater emphasis on women, children, refugees,
and other vulnerable groups in society."
     Then ensue a series of brief chapters:  Africa, Asia, Europe,
the Americas.  The areas are so vast that the problem of balancing
detail and generalization would daunt any writers, but Bradshaw
and Wallace do manage to present some parallel data for many
countries in each area (e.g., gross domestic product per capita,
urbanization).  Each continent, however, provokes different
thematic issues.  In Africa, they emphasize the internal obstacles
to development, especially governmental incompetence and
corruption, and they also feature the worsening record in child
mortality and poverty and the staggering impact of AIDS.  I was a
bit shocked at the sheer size of the AIDS impact:  hundreds of
thousands of orphans, for example, and widespread child
prostitution.
     For Asia, Chinese development and cross-national comparisons

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of income inequality in the Four Dragons, Japan, and the US figure
prominently in the discussion.  The chapter on Europe features a
discussion of comparative welfare benefits, while their writing on
the Americas focuses on a discussion of environmental and energy
use inequalities.
     While theoretically unsatisfactory, the authors' eclectic
approach is not the main problem with the usefulness of this book
for students.  That problem lies in the matter of focus and
comparison.  With 203 small pages of text, and a slim chapter for
each continent, the treatment could at best be an overview.  But
the organization of the book obstructs clarity.  Income, trade,
production, health - these topics might be systematically
arrayed; or alternatively, regions of the world defined by
position in the world system (or merely by income grouping) could
be arrayed, and the dimensions of inequality analyzed by region.
     As it is, a great deal of what is in this book can be found
in the large introductory sociology texts which invest in good
graphics and lots of tables.  With that in mind, this work could
be of use in such classes where the instructor chooses not to use
a textbook.  Even then, one probably would be better off with
either a more theoretically coherent work (e.g., Thomas Richard
Shannon's AN INTRODUCTION TO THE WORLD-SYSTEM PERSPECTIVE, 1989,
or for that matter W.W. Rostow's THE STAGES OF ECONOMIC GROWTH,
1960) or one better organized empirically.
     Bradshaw and Wallace are notable scholars and intellectuals
of humane intent.  Their effort is marked by generous impulse
throughout.  The book is part of a series apparently intended to
provide affordable paperback supplements introducing parts of
fields for course use - an honorable goal.  While checkered with
interesting material this volume lacks the compelling logic or
systematic presentation which most of us would prefer.

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