The fate of globalization in the 21st century hangs in the balance. Although recent data show that most global integration has been on the rebound after the 2008-9 global financial meltdown and the COVID-19 pandemic, public sentiments about globalization have soured. The neoliberal glorification of globalization as beneficial market integration is running out of steam, while national-populist visions of "deglobalization" exert significant mass appeal. Today's ostensible globalization backlash scenario seems to be confirmed by soaring inflation rates, global supply chain disruptions, accelerating climate change and ecological deterioration, lagging transitions to greener forms of energy, escalating economic inequality, and rising geopolitical competition among the Great Powers, especially the United States-China rivalry and the protracted Russian-Ukrainian war. On the flipside, however, such grim scenarios reinforce the fact that most of today's problems are global in nature. This book provides an accessible assessment of 21st-century globalization that draws on global theory and history to engage pressing issues such as digitization, ideological polarization, higher education, demographics, human development, and the environment. Assembling such a big picture of globalization in this young century supports the practical efforts of setting the globe on a more equitable and sustainable path.
Manfred B. Steger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He has served as an academic consultant on globalization for the U.S. State Department and as an advisor to the PBS television series, Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism. He is the author of over 30 books and numerous articles on globalization, and social and political theory, including The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror (Oxford University Press, 2008); the award-winning Globalisms: Facing the Populist Challenge, 4th ed. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020); and the bestselling Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, 6th ed. (Oxford UP 2023).
Preface & Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables PART I: HISTORIES & THEORIES A Genealogy of "Globalization" The Four Meaning Branches of the Family Tree Called "Globalization" The Neoliberal Revolution and the "Globalization of Markets" Concluding Reflections on the Meaning of "Globalization" in this Book Four Ages of Globalization Periodizing Globalization: Perilous Pitfalls Periodizing Globalization: Alternative Models The Age of the Embodied Globalization (10000BCE-3000BCE) The Age of Institutional Globalization (3000BCE - 1600CE) The Age of Objectified Globalization (1600-1914) The Age of Disembodied Globalization (1914-2000) Concluding Reflections A Critical Appraisal of Globalization Theory Globalization Theory: The Basics The Dominant Framework of Globalization Theory An Alternative Framework of Globalization Theory The Generalizing Mode The Domain Mode The Complexity Mode Concluding Remarks PART II: IDEOLOGIES & MOVEMENTS Contending Globalisms Political Ideologies and Social Imaginaries Ideological Struggles of the 21st Century Concluding Reflections The Challenge of Antiglobalist Populism The Significance of Global Crises What Is National-Populism? Mapping Trump's Antiglobalist Populism The Populist Paradox Concluding Reflections of the Future of Antiglobalist Populism PART III: ISSUES & PROBLEMS The Rise of Global Studies in Higher Education The Institutional Evolution of Global Studies The Global Studies Story at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) The First Pillar of Global Studies: Globalization The Second Pillar of Global Studies: Transdisciplinarity The Third Pillar of Global Studies: Space & Time The Fourth Pillar of Global Studies: Critical Thinking Concluding Remarks: Critiques of Global Studies Digital Globalization in the COVID-19 Era Four Social Formations of Globalization Digitization and Disjunctive Globalization The Production of the Unhappy Consciousness Concluding Reflections on the Impact of COVID-19 Globalization in 2040: Environment, Population, Development Environment Population Development Concluding Reflections Notes Index About the Author
A comprehensive assessment of the shifting processes of globalization in the 21st century from a leading thinker in the field.
