Demystifying Globalization

Globalization has, within academic, political and business circles alike, become the buzz-word of the 1990s, conjuring an ever-growing diversity of associations, connotations and attendant mythologies. In this volume a distinguished array of international academics assess the contribution of the globalization thesis, in its various guises, to our understanding of social, political and economic change in contemporary societies. The authors cast a critical and, in large part, sceptical gaze over some of the often wildly exaggerated and wilfully extrapolated claims made in the name of globalization, whilst seeking to transcend the disciplinary shackles that have come to characterize, as they have come to limit, our understanding of the dynamic processes and mechanisms of globalization. They expose, challenge and demystify many of our intuitive assumptions about this complex and contested process, developing a distinctive 'third wave' perspective on the phenomena variously referred to as economic, political, social and cultural globalization.