Globalization

Abstract

Globalization is easily among the most important and contested topics within the contemporary social sciences. Debated in both popular media and academic circles, it has inspired avid proponents and passionate protestors as it reconfigures social relations in all areas of life, lessening and exacerbating inequalities. The world, now instantaneously connected through telecommunications technologies and rapid modes of transport, is organized through a vast network of global institutions, civil society, multinational corporations, and nation‐states. Within this loose network, governments have struggled to control flows of people, capital, and ideas, as states have sought to balance their autonomy with an increasingly interdependent world. Local economies are now quickly affected by distant policies and cycles, and formerly isolated locales have been integrated into a new “global village.” Even the most fundamental questions about what globalization is, when it began, and the nature of global politics, culture, and the economy, are all hotly debated throughout the social sciences.