They are the countries whose economies are focused on raw resource extraction like mining and agriculture. These places are usually very poor as all investment coming abroad from international finance goes towards increasing the output of ore, crude oil, coffee, palm oil, etc. A good example from the beginning of Neocolonialism (Kwame Nkrumah) is of Ghana tripling its cacao production over the span of 10 years, but the actual net income from total cacao exports fell slightly. The global system of capitalism via monopoly power forces these countries to underprice their exports and forces them to overpay on imports and on the interest payments from loans they must get from the banks of rich countries like the EU or US. Africa and the Middle East, some parts of South America and Asia would be in the imperial periphery. They only consume close to the bare necessity required to maintain the workforce required for resource extraction.

There are the countries whose economies process those raw resources into consumer goods. This group has become increasingly distinct over time as factories have moved out of the US and Europe into Asia and Central and South America. Life is sometimes better here and there is more consumption usually.

The countries whose economies are focused on consumption, finance, and IPs (or other forms of products only profitable because of rent). Almost all jobs fall into the categories of…

Sales and retail, transportation, finance, creating IPs such as proprietary software, technology patents, or entertainment, and the maintenance of infrastructure. That’s it, pretty much. It makes sense why nobody wants to work, almost all of them aren’t contributing anything that seems helpful minus a few exceptions.

Their biggest exports are loans, IPs (if those could even be said to be exports), and weapons.

Alienation is the worst in these countries as every aspect of life is designed to make people consume as much as possible. Alienation is far more psychologically damaging than exploitation which leads to stuff like South Korea having a higher suicide rate than Sudan. Basically all of them are experiencing an ever worsening loneliness and mental health crisis. It’s normal now that every person you know has a mood disorder.

Also leftists have a far harder time getting anything done in these countries because a lot of the working class are basically bought off and apathy is like the dominant ideology. Also, what means of production is anyone gonna seize? The Coca-Cola bottling factory? The Walmart grocery stores?