Globalization and inequality: Issues of conceptualization and of Explanation

Abstract

The article examines the impact of globalization processes on inequality between different social groups. The phenomenon of globalization is analyzed through the prism of several theoretical discourses addressing its various aspects. Inequality is also analyzed as a complex, multilevel phenomenon which globalization affects in a different way. The author considers both the global history and current national processes as the most important sources of modern inequality. The main mechanisms of inequality consist of distancing, exclusion, domination / submission and exploitation. The article concludes that if the demographic inequality (life expectancy) and existential inequality (equal opportunity, protection and access to the institutions of justice) throughout the twentieth century as a whole has decreased, economic inequality, as measured in international GDP per capita over the past 200 years only increased steadily.