The Third World

The Third World. What's behind the systematic labeling of three-quarters of humanity, occupying two-thirds of the surface of the earth, with these two diminutive words? What stereotypes are evoked by this phrase?

We may imagine crying children with big sad eyes and empty bowels; people slowly poisoning themselves by eating and drinking from lands and waters contaminated by toxins from multinational industrial corporations; warfare between neighbors; people dying of curable ailments because of the lack of healthcare. Sound familiar? Well they should. Not only are these images that spring to mind when referring to the Third World, but they are also the images that are increasingly filling our own lives here at home. Just watch the six o'clock news. Not only have the semantics of the expression "Third World" changed, so have the members.

The expression "Third World" was first used in 1952 by the French demographer Alfred Sauvy. Sauvy's allusion was to the tiers etat (Third State) of French society before the Revolution of 1789, which was at the time made up of people deprived of privileges. This marginalization of those deemed insignificant persists in today's international system.

Logic tell us that if there is a third, then there must be a first and second. The industrialized democracies of North America, Western Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand were dubbed the "First World." Their deadly enemies--the Soviets and their East European allies -- were assigned " Second World" status. Everyone else by default was then "Third World."

The Cold-War era made " Third World" synonymous with social stratification, inefficiencies, political instability and the like, even though not all of the countries assigned Third World status were wracked with these indicators of mayhem. Lumping together of the majority of the globe's population into one identity rather served as both a convenient means of control as well as a geopolitical shorthand.

Although " First World" and "Second World" have fallen out of favor, "Third World" continues to refer to countries outside the clique of industrialized nations. The question is: Is the dividing line really so clear? I do not think so.

Once we start applying "Third World" in terms of demographics rather than geographics we discover those countries, such as the U.S., that historically have considered themselves outside the club. Just look at the data. According to recent U.S. government and Children Defense Fund figures, incomes for working families under the age of 30 have declined 32 percent since the 1970s; 60 percent of children under the age of two are not fully immunized, paving the way for the recent resurgence of childhood diseases such as measles and rubella; guns and gang violence are the leading cause of death among teenage boys in the U.S.; one in five Americans is not covered by health insurance; unemployment has remained in double digit figures for many parts of the country; homelessness is at an all-time high; and racial violence is on the rise. While the U.S. increasingly displays social pathologies characteristic of so-called Third World nations, many of the so-called Third World nations are seeing declines in many of these same areas. For example take Indonesia. In 1970 almost 60 percent of the population lived in poverty; today less than 20 percent do. In certain parts of the Third World, literacy rates have more than doubled (Nicaragua), life expectancy has gone from 40 to 60 years, food production has more than tripled, and family planning has increased to 45 percent.