'Globalization' has become the buzz-word of our time. A growing number of scholars and political activists have invoked the term to describe a variety of changing economic, political, cultural, ideological, and environmental processes that are alleged to have accelerated in the last few decades. Rather than forcing such a complex social phenomenon into a single conceptual framework, Manfred Steger presents globalization in plain, readable English as a multifaceted process encompassing global, regional, and local aspects of social life. In addition to explaining the various dimensions of globalization, the author explores whether globalization should be considered a 'good' or 'bad' thing - a question that has been hotly debated in classrooms, boardrooms, and on the streets.

'Globalization' has become the buzz-word of our time. A growing number of scholars and political activists have invoked the term to describe a variety of changing economic, political, cultural, ideological, and environmental processes that are alleged to have accelerated in the last few decades. Rather than forcing such a complex social phenomenon into a single conceptual framework, Manfred Steger presents globalization in plain, readable English as a multifaceted process encompassing global, regional, and local aspects of social life. In addition to explaining the various dimensions of globalization, the author explores whether globalization should be considered a 'good' or 'bad' thing - a question that has been hotly debated in classrooms, boardrooms, and on the streets.

Manfred B. Steger is Associate Professor Politics and Government at Illinois State University and Affiliate Faculty Member at the Globalization Research Center of the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. His academic fields of expertise include theories and ideologies of globalization, comparative political and social theory, theories of non-violence, and international politics. His most recent publications include Globalism: The New Market Ideology, Gandhi's Dilemma: Nonviolent
Principles and Nationalist Power, Violence and its Alternatives: An Interdisciplinary Reader, and The Quest for Evolutionary Socialism: Eduard Bernstein and Social Democracy.

2008-05-08 Shame about the diagrams

Generally a good introduction, clear to read and covering a lot of ground, but, while not extremely biased, it could still have been from a more neutral viewpoint. On the other hand, this bias did not really detract from the usefulness of the book as an introduction to the subject. The reading list at the back is definitely very helpful.
I would disagree with one of my fellow reviewers about the graphs and diagrams though- I found almost all of them totally pointless and difficult to understand! It would have been an even clearer book without them.