Lesson video

Hello and welcome to lesson eight of the globalisation unit.

In this lesson, we're going to be thinking all about where will globalisation lead us? Let's have a look at the agenda together now.

So the first thing that we're going to look at is what are global inequalities.

Secondly, we'll look at what does the future hold for globalisation.

And then lastly, we'll think about, has globalisation made the world a better place? And for this lesson, you will need three things, an exercise book or paper, a pencil or a pen, and most importantly, our brains.

So pause the video now, make sure you've got those things and then resume when you're ready to get started with the learning.

In this first part of the lesson, we're going to be learning about what are global inequalities.

And so let's start off with defining what is an inequality.

So an inequality is a situation in which some groups in a society have more advantages than others.

So one example of an inequality is that some people have much more money than other people and because they don't have an equal amount, therefore it is an inequality.

Okay.

So try reading the definition yourself now.

Now, that's very helpful.

Go for it.

Nice one.

What's an inequality? It's a situation in which some groups in a society have more advantages than others.

Okay.

So when we're talking about a global inequality, we are talking about a situation in which some groups across the world have more advantages than others.

And one of the side effects of globalisation is that in some ways it has increased inequalities and there are lots of different types of inequality across the world.

What we're going to do now is look at a series of maps that show us different examples of inequalities.

And for each map, you are going to note down two or three observations or things that you notice about the map and inequalities.

Let's go through this map now.

So this great map shows us the population of each country living below the national poverty line.

So what that means is there is a definition of how much money you earn makes you living in poverty or not living in poverty.

So imagine a line.

If you earn money above the line, you are not in poverty, but if you earn, the amount of money you earn is below the line, that means you are in poverty or another way of saying that is that you are very poor.

So on this map, the countries that are in dark blue have very few people living in poverty, as you can see on the key on the bottom left of the map.

But the countries that are orange, pink, and dark red, those are countries that have very high levels of poverty.

For example, you'll see the continent of Africa.

Point on the map where Africa is.

It's right in the middle.

Africa has many different countries that are very dark red.

And that means in those countries over 60% of their population are living below the national poverty line, which means over 60% of their populations are living in poverty.

Another key thing to notice about this map is where are most of the countries with the fewest people living in poverty.

So you may remember, so blue is the colour, which shows countries that have much fewer people living in poverty, and you may notice that most of the countries that have few people living in poverty are in the Northern hemisphere.

And most of the countries with people living in poverty are in the Southern hemisphere.

And there is a big, big gap between very rich countries and very poor countries or countries with lots of people living below the national poverty line.

So for each map that we're going to look at, as I said, you're going to write down two or three things that you've noticed.

Let's just go through this first one together as an example.

Okay, so for each map, I'll give you a word bank like that on the right.

And here are just some of the observations I wrote down.

So first of all, I wrote, there is a large income gap between the richest and poorest countries, because we saw there was some countries with very few people living below the poverty line, but there are also lots of countries with many people living below the poverty.

I also identified where many of the countries with the highest percentage of people living below the poverty line are.

And I wrote they are in the Southern hemisphere.

And then lastly, I noticed, and we went through this, that Africa has the largest amount of populations living below the poverty line.

So I just wrote that down as an observation.

Let's look at another map now, and you can begin to write down your own observations on what the map shows us about inequalities.

So this map also shows us another example of global inequalities.

It shows us for each country, the percentage of their population that are undernourished, and undernourished means not having enough food to eat.

The darker reds and the oranges mean, as you can see in the key on the bottom left, that they have higher, a higher percentage of their country with people not having enough to eat, and the dark greens and the lighter greens means they have much fewer people who don't have enough food to eat.

Okay.

So which continents do you notice have the fewest people who are undernourished? Point at the map where you notice there are the fewest people undernourished.

Well, hopefully you are pointing to North America, which is in the top left of the map, and Europe as well, which is where Britain is, because both those areas, most of the countries there are very dark green, aren't they? So they have the fewest people who are undernourished.

In fact, less than 5% of people in those areas are undernourished.

Now, which continent do you notice has the most countries where people, with high percentages of people who are undernourished.

Which continent do you notice? Point at it on the map.

Hopefully, you are pointing to, very sadly, Africa.

So Africa on this map has the most countries with high levels of undernourished, which means high percentages of people living in the continent of Africa do not have enough food to eat.

Now, are there any areas that surprise you about this map? One area that surprises me is the Middle East, which is the area to the right of Africa.

There are two countries there that have quite high levels of undernourishment.

And that was a surprise to me.

So based on some of the observations that I've made and you've made on the map that shows us undernourishment, you're now going to write down two to three observations on the inequalities from that map.

There's a word bank below my head here that you can use to help you out.

And when you're ready, pause the video to complete the task and then resume once you're finished.

Okay, let's go through that together now.

So here are some of the observations that I noted down.

So first of all, I noted that North America and Europe has very low percentages of their populations who are undernourished.

That's not to say that there isn't anybody, but actually compared with other countries only a very low percentage of people are undernourished in those countries, in those continents I mean.

Secondly, there are many countries in Africa that have a significant percentage of their populations who are undernourished.

And that, you know, that really stood out for me, the amount of countries that were in dark red there, indicating that high numbers of people, a high percentage of their populations were undernourished.

And then lastly, I noted the thing that surprised me was that there are several countries in the Middle East with high levels of undernourishment.

So you may have noted down some different observations.

That's absolutely fine.

But the key thing to reflect on from these maps is that there are many inequalities that exist across the globe.

Poverty, undernourishment, and many others.

And so globalisation has brought many benefits, but in some ways it has increased inequalities across the globe.

In this second part of the lesson, we're going to think about what does the future hold for globalisation? And by that we mean like, what is the future of globalisation going to be? Well, globalisation continues to increase very, very rapidly and at a huge scale.

And we see this through the constantly increasing levels of trade, internet use, and tourism as well.

And those are all coming about because of the increased connections between people and places.

We also see it through a significant continued increase in migration as well.

And migration is when people move to new places, typically new countries.

And migration is continuing to increase as a result of globalisation.

And what's the future going to be for globalisation? Well, most geographers agree that globalisation still has a really important role to play in the world.

And you may be wondering, Mr. Barber, why does globalisation still have an important role to play? Surely we are a completely connected world, right? Well, while there continues to be people without the internet, people who cannot access those large transnational corporations or cannot access certain goods and services, then globalisation still has a role to play in helping to connect those people to the rest of the world.

Based on that information, I'd like you to answer the following question, why does globalisation still have a role to play? So think very carefully about what I mentioned lots of people across the globe still don't have access to, and how globalisation can help change that.

And when you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

And if you're wondering how to get started, here's a sentence starter that you can use.

Okay, let's go through this together now.

Here's what I wrote.

Globalisation still has a role to play because there are still people without the internet, without access to TNCs, what's a TNC? Transnational corporation, nice one.

And without access to certain goods and services.

So as long as that continues to be a thing, to be a problem, then globalisation will still have a role to play in building those connections to those things.

Let's move on to the final parts of this lesson.

In this final part of the lesson, we are going to have a deep think about, has globalisation made the world a better place? And it's not that easy a question really because in many ways it's had great benefits, but also there has been some negative side effects from globalisation as well.

And I'm going to take you through a few examples of those based upon what we've learned so far in this unit.

So let's take the internet, for example.

The internet has been fantastic at connecting the world and different countries with each other.

And one good thing about that is that people are very easily able to share new ideas and technology over the internet.

But we also know that not everyone has equal access to the internet.

And that is another example of inequalities.

And the fact that not everyone has equal access to the internet means that some people who can't access the internet are able to earn less money than those people that do have access to the internet.

So some benefits from creating the internet, but some negative side effects.

Another example is food.

Globalisation has helped to lead to people having a much more varied diet, which is fantastic.

But a negative side effect of that has been the increasing food miles and the carbon emissions that result from that.

So again, benefits, but also some negative side effects.

And then another example is the fashion industry.

The fashion industry has grown immensely, and this has led to the creation of many, many jobs in the developing world.

But a negative side effect of that has been that many of the working conditions in those clothes manufacturing factories are very poor and sometimes dangerous, all because people are trying to make as much money as possible and making clothes as quickly as possible.

Based on that information, I'd like you to complete the following task.

What you need to do is draw a table under the headings Better or Worse, and then you need to think of three key points for each side of the table around, is the world a better place because of globalisation? So for example, one way I know globalisation has made the world a better place is because more ideas and technology have been shared because of increasing connections and the internet.

So that's made the world a better place.

However, globalisation has also made the world slightly worse because a lack of universal access to the internet, by that we mean not everyone has the same access to the internet, this has created income inequalities.

Some people are unable to earn as much money because they don't have the internet.

So those are two points on both sides of the argument.

It's over to you now to think of different ways that the globalisation has made the world a better place and different ways that globalisation has made the world a worse place.

And try and think of two to three points for each side of the argument.

When you're ready, pause the video to complete your task and then resume once you're finished.

Okay, very interesting exercise, isn't it? And it's a complex issue.

Here are some of the points that I wrote down.

Let's start off with better.

So I wrote, of course, the world now has a far more varied diet as a result of globalisation.

And then I also noted while the world's a better place because the fashion industry has created many jobs in the developing world, which is really important for people getting an income.

However, I did also write it's made the world worse because increasing food miles are harming the environment, of course, through carbon emissions.

And then also, it's also made the world worst because many of the clothes manufacturing factories that have developed as a result of globalisation, they have very poor working conditions and sometimes dangerous working conditions.

So a very balanced, complex issue in terms of whether it's made the world a better or a worse place.

I wonder what your final opinion on this is.

That brings us to the end of this lesson.

Well done on all the fantastic learning that you've done.

Before we finish, though, there're just two key things that we need to do.

First of all, don't forget to write down the three most memorable things that you'll take away from this lesson.

And then lastly, please remember to complete the exit quiz at the end so you can see how much fantastic progress you're making on this globalisation unit.

I hope you've enjoyed the lesson and have a great rest of your day.