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Global Inequality & Development

Why Are Some Countries Poor?

Global inequality is staggering: the average person in Norway earns 80 times more than the average person in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Explaining this gap is one of sociology's greatest challenges. Modernization theory (Rostow) argued that all nations follow a linear path from traditional to modern society, and poor nations simply lag behind. Dependency theory (Frank, Cardoso) countered that poverty is not a stage but a condition produced by exploitation: colonial extraction, unfair trade terms, and debt structures that transfer wealth from poor to rich nations. Neither theory fully explains the varied trajectories of developing nations — why did South Korea industrialize rapidly while Nigeria, with similar GDP in 1960, did not?

Global Inequality & Development

Why Are Some Countries Poor?

Global inequality is staggering: the average person in Norway earns 80 times more than the average person in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Explaining this gap is one of sociology's greatest challenges. Modernization theory (Rostow) argued that all nations follow a linear path from traditional to modern society, and poor nations simply lag behind. Dependency theory (Frank, Cardoso) countered that poverty is not a stage but a condition produced by exploitation: colonial extraction, unfair trade terms, and debt structures that transfer wealth from poor to rich nations. Neither theory fully explains the varied trajectories of developing nations — why did South Korea industrialize rapidly while Nigeria, with similar GDP in 1960, did not?