This compact alternative to Ritzer's Globalization: A Basic Text (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010) draws on material from the larger volume and presents a more concise, yet still comprehensive, introduction to the major topics in globalization studies. Making use of both academic and popular sources, the book examines the key events in the history of globalization, and the principle flows and structures it has produced. It pinpoints the big questions and maps out alternative futures, whilst covering a range of theories from imperialism and Americanization, to neo-liberalism and the neo-Marxian alternatives. This wideranging and engaging introduction provides an indispensable textbook for undergraduate courses and can be used independently or alongside a reader, such as Ritzer and Atalay, Readings in Globalization (WileyBlackwell, 2010).

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, with awards that include the American Sociological Association's Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award. He is the author of numerous books including The McDonaldization of Society (1993, 2011), The Globalization of Nothing (2003, 2007) Globalization: A Basic Text (2010) and the editor of The Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2005), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007), The Blackwell Companion to Globalization (2007) and the forthcoming The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization. His work has been translated into over 20 languages.

Leseprobe

Preface 1. Globalization 2. Theorizing Globalization 3. Structuring the Global Economy 4. Global Economic Flows 5. Global Political Structures and Processes 6. High-Tech Global Flows and Structures 7. Global Culture and Cultural Flows 8. Global Flows of Migrants 9. Global Environmental Flows 10. Negative Global Flows and Processes 11. Inequality 12. Dealing with, Resisting, and the Future of, Globalization Glossary Index