The Limits of Globalization: Cases and Arguments (International Library of Sociology)

Both the force and the limitations of the globalizing forces operating in the world today can best be understood through an analysis of their concrete manifestations. Using examples from the people's art of Potsdammer Platz to the ways in which Western cultural icons are reinterpreted in Asian magazines, these essays assess the rhetoric of globalization in political analysis, cultural theory, and urban and economic sociology, and exposes the myth of the global society as, in many cases, a dangerous exaggeration.

IThe Limits of Globalization criticizes the idea that globalization is an unstoppable historical force in the face of which politics are helpless and calls for a renewal of political projects which can defend society against markets. The limitations of the globalizing forces operating in the world today can best be understood through an analysis of their concrete manifestations. Using examples from the people's art of Potsdammer Platz to the ways in which Western cultural icons are reinterpreted in Asian magazines, this collection of essays unpicks the rhetoric of globalization in political analysis, cultural theory and urban and economic sociology and exposes the myth of the global society as in many cases a dangerous exaggeration.

This book examines the concrete manifestations of the globalizing forces operating in the world today. It unpicks the rhetoric of globalization in political analysis, cultural theory and urban and economic sociology The new hegemony of the capital markets - and with it new-right pro-market ideas - means the current imperatives are to cut budget deficits, reduce social costs and scale back welfare provision.