Unit VII.  Industrialization and Economic Development Patterns and Processes

This unit addresses the origins and influences of industrial development, along with the role industrialization plays in economic development and globalization. Concepts learned in the political unit, such as territoriality, help students build an understanding of the measures of social and economic development and to explain development theories, such as dependency theory and Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth. The theories they explore are in turn useful in explaining spatial variations in development such as core- periphery relationships.

Students examine contemporary spatial patterns of industrialization and the resulting geography of uneven development—for example, the differences between urban and rural China or Brazil. They explore changes to places resulting from the growth or loss of industry and the role of industry in the world economy. Measurements of development provide the quantitative data to analyze the spatial relationships of the global market. Statistics and spatial data reveal the impact of development on individual populations, including the role of women in the labor market. Students explore strategies for sustainable development focused on women, children, health, education, the environment, and global cooperation.

This final unit of the course pulls together those aspects of human geography learned in previous units to help students develop a more complete understanding of local and global geographic patterns and processes and of possibilities for the future.

Unit VII. Questions

1. What was the Industrial Revolution?
2. Where was the hearth of the Industrial Revolution?
3. What natural resources facilitated the Industrial Revolution?
4. What was the relationship between industrialization and population?
5. Define the primary sector. Give an example of a job in this sector.
6. Define the secondary sector. Give an example of a job in this sector.
7. Define the tertiary sector. Give an example of a job in this sector.
8. Define the quaternary sector. Give an example of a job in this sector.
9. Define the quinary sector. Give an example of a job in this sector.
10. Describe Alfred Weber’s model of industrial location.
11. What is GNI per capita? How can it help measure social and economic development?
12. What is the sectoral structure of an economy? How can it help measure social and economic development?
13. How can income distribution help measure social and economic development?
14. What is infant mortality rate? How can it help measure social and economic development?
15. How can access to health care help measure social and economic development?
16. How can literacy rates help measure social and economic development?
17. What factors can be used to measure gender inequality?
18. What is the Human Development Index?
19. Describe Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth.
20. Describe Wallerstein’s World System Theory.
21. What are the U.N. Millennium Development Goals?
22. What is meant by the terms “core,” “periphery,” and “semiperiphery” when labeling countries?
23. Compare and contrast the role of men and women in the workforce, including wage equity and employment opportunities.
24. What is a microloan?
25. What roles have microloans played in providing opportunities for women?
26. What is comparative advantage?
27. What is complimentary comparative advantage?
28. What is the role of international trade and trading blocs such as EU and NAFTA?
29. What are consequences of growing interdependence in the world economy?
30. What are consequences of outsourcing?
31. How has the diffusion of industry affected countries outside the core?
32. What is a maquiladora?
33. What is a special economic zone?
34. What is a free trade zone?
35. How did investment capital, labor, and government contribute to the rise of high tech centers such as Silicon Valley and the Research Triangle?
36. How does sustainable development address natural resource depletion?
37. How does sustainable development address mass consumption?
38. How does sustainable development address the costs and effects of pollution?
39. How does sustainable development address the impact of climate change?
40. How does sustainable development address human issues such as human health, well-being, and social and economic equity?
41. What is ecotourism?