George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. He has authored numerous books, including The McDonaldization of Society (Seventh Edition, 2012); and is editor of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007) and The Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization (2012).

Paul Dean is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at Ohio Wesleyan University. He is co-editor of The Sociological Cinema, a website promoting video to teach and learn sociology.

About the Website xi

List of Figures xii

Preface xiii

1 GLOBALIZATION I 1

Liquids, Flows, and Structures

Some of the Basics 2

From Solids to Liquids (to Gases) 3

Flows 6

Heavy, Light, Weightless 8

Heavy Structures That Expedite Flows 11

Heavy Structures As Barriers to Flows 15

Subtler Structural Barriers 18

On the Increasing Ubiquity of Global Flows and Structures 20

Thinking about Global Flows and Structures 21

Chapter Summary 22

2 GLOBALIZATION II 27

Some Basic Issues, Debates, and Controversies

Is There Such a Thing As Globalization? 28

Is It Globalization or Transnationalization? 30

If There Is such a Thing As Globalization, When Did It Begin? 31

Globalization or Globalizations? 38

What Drives Globalization? 41

Does Globalization Hop Rather Than Flow? 42

If There Is Such a Thing As Globalization, Is It Inexorable? 43

Does Globaphilia or Globaphobia Have the Upper Hand? 45

What, If Anything, Can Be Done about Globalization? 50

Chapter Summary 51

3 GLOBALIZATION AND RELATED PROCESSES 55

Imperialism, Colonialism, Development, Westernization, Easternization, and Americanization

Imperialism 56

Colonialism 59

Development 61

Westernization 63

Easternization 64

Americanization 67

Comparisons with Globalization 75

The Era of the “Posts” 77

Chapter Summary 78

4 NEOLIBERALISM 83

Roots, Principles, Criticisms, and Neo-Marxian Alternatives

The Past, Present, and Future of Neoliberalism 84

Neoliberalism: An Exemplary Statement and the Basic Principles 89

Popular Neoliberal “Theory”: The Case of Thomas Friedman 92

Critiquing Neoliberalism 94

Neoliberalism as Exception 96

Neoliberalism: The Case of Israel 98

The End of History 99

The Death of Neoliberalism? 101

Neo-Marxian Theoretical Alternatives to Neoliberalism 101

Chapter Summary 107

5 GLOBAL POLITICAL STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES 111

On Political Processes and Flows 112

The Nation-State 113

In Defense of the Nation-State 117

“Imagined Community” 118

Changes in Global Nation-State Relations 120

Other Global Political Developments and Structures 122

Regional Political Organizations 126

Global Governance 127

Civil Society 131

Chapter Summary 138

6 STRUCTURING THE GLOBAL ECONOMY 141

Before Bretton Woods 142

Bretton Woods and the Bretton Woods System 144

The End of Bretton Woods 153

Changes in, and Critiques of, Bretton-Woods-Era Organizations 154

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (Oecd) 158

European Union (Common Market) 159

North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) 161

Mercosur 163

Opec 164

The Multinational Corporation (Mnc) 164

World Economic Forum 167

The Myth of Economic Globalization? 168

Chapter Summary 168

7 GLOBAL ECONOMIC FLOWS 173

Production and Consumption

Trade 174

Increasing Competition for Commodities 182

The Economic Impact of the Flow of Oil 183

Race to the Bottom and Upgrading 186

Outsourcing 187

Financial Globalization 189

Corporations, People, and Ideas 193

Consumption 195

Chapter Summary 201

8 GLOBAL CULTURE AND CULTURAL FLOWS 205

Cultural Differentialism 207

Cultural Hybridization 215

Cultural Convergence 219

Chapter Summary 233

9 HIGH-TECH GLOBAL FLOWS AND STRUCTURES 237

Technology, Mass Media, and the Internet

Technology, Time-Space Compression, and Distanciation 238

Mass Media 244

The Internet and Social Media 251

Chapter Summary 260

10 GLOBAL FLOWS OF PEOPLE 263

Migration, Human Trafficking, and Tourism Migrants 264

Migration 265

Human Trafficking 286

Tourism 289

Chapter Summary 291

11 GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL FLOWS 295

Modernization and Environmental Flows 297

Differences among Nation-States 299

Global Climate Change 299

Other Environmental Problems 304

Global Responses 312

From Lightness to Heaviness in Environmental Flows 322

Collapse 322

Chapter Summary 323

12 NEGATIVE GLOBAL FLOWS AND PROCESSES 327

Dangerous Imports, Diseases, Crime, Terrorism, War Dangerous Imports 329

Borderless Diseases 331

Crime 336

Terrorism 340

War 346

The Impact of Negative Global Flows on Individuals 353

Chapter Summary 354

13 GLOBAL INEQUALITIES I 357

Class and Rural–Urban Inequalities Class Inequality 359

Rural–Urban Inequality 369

Chapter Summary 381

14 GLOBAL INEQUALITIES II 385

Inequalities of Race, Ethnicity, Gender, and Sexuality Defining Majority–Minority Relations 386

Race and Ethnicity 392

Gender 404

Sexuality 411

Responding to and Resisting Global Minority Status: The Case of Women 413

Chapter Summary 415

15 DEALING WITH, RESISTING, AND THE FUTURES OF, GLOBALIZATION 419

Dealing with Globalization 420

Alter-Globalizations 430

The Futures of Globalization 440

Chapter Summary 443

Appendix 447

Disciplinary Approaches to Globalization

Anthropology 448

Sociology 448

Political Science 449

Economics 450

Geography 451

Psychology 452

Literary Criticism (Postcolonial) 453

Other Fields 455

Glossary 457

References 467

Index 517

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