Definitions
- Globalization: an ongoing process of social change by which regions and nations become increasingly interconnected with one another, especially in regards to economic, political or cultural phenomena.
- State: A political community with clearly defined borders and a single governing system, which has the power to police, defend and create laws over that territory.
- Waves of globalization: The idea that globalization has progresses through a several distinct periods of activity, rather than as one continuous process.
- Civilizations: Distinct cultural groupings, typically spanning a number of politically independent societies (e.g. ‘Western civilization’).
- Nation: a group of people who see themselves a single, cohesive unit, based on various cultural, ancestral, or historical criteria. Members of a nation are typically similar in regards to their language, religious beliefs, cultural practices, and ethnic identities.
- Nation-States: A state in which the majority of citizens belong to the same nation.
- Liquid Modernity: In Bauman, a new type of modernity, associated with the contemporary area. Liquid modernity describes a condition of constant change, instability, and mobility, affecting all areas of human life.
- Fordism/Fordist: an approach to manufacturing, originally developed by Henry Ford to improve productive efficiency in the automotive industry. Principles of Fordism include greater standardization via the use of machines, the employment of assembly line methods in manufacture, and the payment of sufficient wages to facilitate consumption.
- Post-Fordism: the dominant system of production in most contemporary industrialized economies, associated with a decline in mass production. Post-Fordism is typically thought to involve the rise of service professions, an emphasis on information and communication technologies, and a shift to small-batch production.
- Post-Industrial Economy: an economy in which the provision of services and information has higher relative importance than the provision of manufactured goods.
- Information Age: A term used to describe the present historical age, especially in post-industrial economies. The information age is said to be a marked by the growing importance of information technology within the economy.
- Production:The provision of goods or services.
- Consumption:The utilization of goods or services.
- Mobilities: a research paradigm in contemporary sociology, focused on the study of movement. Mobilities scholars study the movement of people, ideas, cultures, and things, and are generally interested in topics like transportation, migration, and tourism.
- Risk Society: a society which is increasingly concerned with, and organized around, the avoidance and maintenance of risk.
- Ambivalence: a feeling of contrasting or opposing commitments towards a particular entity or event.
- Methodological cosmopolitanism: An approach to social science that sees social phenomena as taking place in an increasingly globalized context. Methodological cosmopolitanism involves attention to processes that transcend national borders.
- Methodological nationalism: An approach to social science that sees the nation-state as the primary object of analysis, or which largely focuses on processes within a single nation-state.
- Homogeneity:A word used to describe a collection of elements which are each identical to one another.
- Privilege:The idea that certain individuals or groups have advantages in society based on various characteristics, such as race, gender, sexuality, and so on.
- Glocalization: the idea that globalization can increase the importance of local and regional levels, rather than simply erasing them.
- Global Cities: In Sassen, the key places of globalization. These are large urban centres like New York, London, Singapore or Beijing that are key nodes in regional and global networks, becoming even more important in late modernity. People and multinational companies will be increasingly drawn to them.
- Survival Circuits:Dynamic networks of people and money which help support the economies of Majority World countries. Survival circuits often involve women, who, as low-wage migrant workers, send remittances back to their home countries.
- Wealth:Income from investments, ownership of productive assets, salaries, bonuses, shares and property.
- Modernization Theory: a theoretical perspective that sought to describe and explain patterns of social development. Modernization theories generally focused on the relationship between internal factors within societies (such as the relationship between economic development and democratic institutions), and argued that poor countries should emulate the structural patterns of wealthy countries.
- Dependency Theory: a theoretical perspective that arose in opposition to modernization theory. Dependency theories argued that social development was linked to unequal power relationships between a ‘periphery’ of poor states and a ‘core’ of wealthy states, and that the latter had developed at the expense of the former.
- World Systems Theory: a theoretical perspective that sought to examine patterns of inequality in the global economy. World systems theory divided the world into core, semi-periphery, and periphery countries, and argued that the core countries exploited and dominated the others for their own gain.
- Colonization: The process by which a nation establishes control over another territory or people, typically to prove economic benefits for the colonizer.
- Cultural Imperialism: The process by which the culture, values, and norms of one society are imposed on another. Typically used in reference to the global dominance of Western culture and ideals.
- Settler Colonization:A distinct type of colonization in which the current inhabitants of a colonized territory are replaced by a new society of settlers.
- Border Thinking: A mode of thought which draws on the perspectives, knowledges, and forms of expression marginalized by colonial domination that focused on experiences, lives and structures intersections of different borders.
Books on the General Topic
Schuerkens, U., 2017. Social Changes in a Global World. Los Angeles: SAGE
Urry, J 2007. Mobilities, Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Walby, S. 2015. Crisis. UK: Polity.
Therborn, Göran 2011. The World: A Beginner’s Guide. Wiley
Sassen, S. 2007. A Sociology of Globalization. W.W. Norton.
Beck, U. 2016. The Metamorphosis of the World. Polity Press.
Barnett, C., 2008. Geographies of Globalisation. London: Sage
Contemporary Research Monographs on this Topic
Harris, A., 2013. Young People and Everyday Multiculturalism, Routledge, New York and London
Anheier, H. and Isar, Y., 2007. The Cultures and Globalization Series. London: Sage
Contemporary Articles
- Discusses both positive and negative impacts of globalization on Indigenous Australians.
- This is an interesting article on the globalization of reggae music and its uptake by various different indigenous groups, including Native Americans, Maoris, Aborigines, and Pacific Islanders. Useful example to demonstrate the emergence of a global indigenous culture.
- Useful discussion of the practical implications of methodological cosmopolitanism.
- Good concrete example of the glocalization concept.
- Discussion of how the benefits/drawbacks of globalisation can be unevenly distributed in societies. Links to discussion of risk in the chapter.
Bartelson, J 2000, ‘Three Concepts of Globalization. International Sociology, 15(2), 180–196
- Discusses different concepts of globalization, specifically from a sociological perspective. Cites many authors mentioned in this chapter.
- Clear discussion of the various consequences of globalization re: nation-states. Engages with the idea of glocalization.
- Good example of the argument that place is still relevant.
Urry, J 2010, ‘Mobile Sociology’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 61, no. s1, pp. 347-366.
- Detailed account of the mobilities approach.
- Gives a clear overview of modernization theory, and presents a good discussion of its many contemporary iterations.
Sassen, S 2004, ‘Local Actors in Global Politics’, Current Sociology, vol. 52, no. 4, pp. 649-670.
- Very approachable piece by Sassen.
Castles, S 2003, ‘Towards a Sociology of Forced Migration and Social Transformation,’ Sociology, vol. 37, no. 1, pp. 13-34.
- Another approachable piece on the topic of immigration flows.
Discussion Questions
- What are some the key features of globalization?
- How do you think the shift to a post-industrial, information based economy has influenced your own life?
- What impact has globalization has on patterns of inequality?
- Many scholars have argued that the effects of globalization have been overstated, and that place continues to be significant. Do you agree?
- How has globalization impacted regional cultures? Do you think these changes are positive or negative?
Chapter References
- Bauman, Z (2000) Liquid Modernity. Polity Press.
- Beck, U (1992) Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. Sage.
- Beck, U. (2006) Cosmopolitan Vision. Polity Press.
- Bell, D (1974) The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society. Harper Colophon.
- Berman, M (1982) All That Is Solid Melts into Air: The Experience of Modernity. Verso.
- Calhoun, C (2007) Nations Matter: Culture, History, and the Cosmopolitan Dream. Routledge.
- Cardoso, FH and Faletto, E (1979) Dependency and Development in Latin America, trans. MM Urquidi. University of California Press.
- Castells, M (1996) The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell.
- Giddens, A (2002) Runaway World: How Globalisation Is Reshaping Our Lives. Profile Books.
- Lipset, SM (1959) ‘Some Social Requisites of Democracy’, American Political Science Review, vol. 53, no. 1, pp. 69–105.
- Marx, K and Engels, F (1983) The Communist Manifesto. Penguin.
- Parsons, T (1966) Societies: Evolutionary and Comparative Perspectives. Prentice Hall.
- Parsons, T (1985) Talcott Parsons on Institutions and Social Evolution: Selected Writings, ed. LH Mayhew. Chicago University Press.
- Pieterse, JN (2009) Globalization and Culture: Global Melange, 2nd edn. Roman and Littlefield.
- Robertson, R (2012) ‘Globalisation or Glocalisation?’, The Journal of International Communication, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 191–208.
- Sassen, S (2001) The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo, 2nd edn. Princeton University Press.
- Schiller, H (1976) Communication and Cultural Domination. International Arts and Sciences Press.
- Therborn, G (2000) ‘Globalizations: Dimensions, Historical Waves, Regional Effects, Normative Governance’, International Sociology, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 151–179.
- Urry, J (2007) Mobilities. Polity Press.
- Wallerstein, I (1974) ‘The Rise and Future Demise of the World Capitalist System: Concepts for Comparative Analysis’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 387–415.
- Wimmer, J and Quandt, T (2006) ‘Living in the Risk Society: An Interview with Ulrich Beck’, Journalism Studies, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 336–347.
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