The Third World: Country or People?

Nevertheless, the term Third World has also been used to describe some rich countries with very high Gross Domestic Product or even high Human Development Index; therefore, poverty is not always economical, and roots within society.

The nature of society is rooted in culture, which is set of ideas, norms, and values; and structure, which is the fundamental organization of society into its institutions, groups, statuses, and roles. While evaluating the difference between “real culture” and “ideal culture”, lead us to understand that cultural values are not always consistent, even within the same society.

Global poverty dates back to centuries of plunder and confiscation of land and riches from the indigenous people under the flag of colonialism and exploitation. Over years, exploitation has led the current economic system being funded by the poor through theft of land and natural resources, unfair debt settlement, and unjust taxes on labor and consumption.

Social inequality – in sense of distribution of material possessions, money, power, prestige, relationship – whether within societies or among them is a topic at the heart of sociology.

The theory of a “Culture of Poverty” describes the combination of factors that perpetuate patterns of inequality and poverty in society. This theory states that living in conditions of prevalent poverty leads to the development of a culture or subculture adapted to those conditions, and characterized by prevalent feelings of vulnerability, dependency, marginality, and feebleness.

The myth of the Culture of Poverty, intensifying Cultural Poverty, Cycle of poverty or development trap, insufficiency of materialist information society, necessity of knowledge society, and other key factors in crafting the third world are discussed in this book.

“The Third World; Country or People” takes a systematic approach to the analysis of human lives and interactions and evaluates various fields including anthropology, economics, political science, ethnic studies, area studies, gender studies, cultural studies.