In your textbook Barkan compares the US with Uganda to show the differences in a country’s well being and thus, life chances. Choose a different “poor” country (however you define “poor”) to compare with the United States and research the following statistics filling out the right hand column. (I’ve provided the US statistics from Barkan for comparison). Try to find the latest numbers and include the year.
COUNTRY AND YEAR OF STATISTICS FOUND
UNITED STATES (2010)
Gross national income per capita ($)
46,970
Population living below $2 per day (%)
0
Infant mortality rate (number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births)
6.6
Life expectancy at birth (years)
78
Lifetime births per woman
2.1
Underweight children, ages < 5 (%)
1
Motor vehicles per 1,000 population
787
Source of statistics?
Population Reference Bureau, Washington, DC
What factors account for any differences you found between your country and the US?
How might your findings relate to Sach’s argument about poor countries in “The End of Poverty”?
Do you think rich nations are doing enough to help poor nations? Why or why not?
After reading the Henslin article “Eating Your Friends is the Hardest” discuss whether the behavior of the Andes crash survivors was deviant or not. Relate this behavior to any sociological concept as discussed in the Groups chapter or Deviance and Norms chapter in the Barkan text AND to one of the experiments shown in this week’s folder. Underline the concept you used. Which theoretical perspective best describes the survivors’ behavior and why? Do you think you would do the same under these circumstances? Why or why not?
