Globalization, Knowledge and Society addresses the issues involved in the development of sociology as a global discipline and the increasing interpenetration of national traditions, cultures and economies through global change. Classic issues of relativism and universalism are raised in a new context. The related problems of tensions between national sociological traditions and the international discipline are explored. Finally the book considers the transnational process of social change, particularly as exemplified in international actors such as the Green and peace movements. This innovative volume, drawing on papers from International Sociology, addresses key questions for all those interested either in th

Taking issue with those who see recent social transformations as an extension of modernity, the author contends that social theory must confront an epochal change from the modern era to a new era of globality, in which human beings can conceive of forces at work on a global scale, and in which they espouse values that take the globe as their reference point. The book begins by assessing the problems of writing about modernity, showing how narratives of an endlessly self-perpetuating modern age were intrinsic to the "modern project," the attempt by Enlightenment philosophers to transform the everyday world in accord with science and logic under the auspices of the nation-state. Now we are beginning to realize that the nation-state and the modern project cannot renew themselves endlessly through expansion. Instead, the author contends, the age has culminated in its own dissolution, and globality has supplanted modernity as the basis for action and social organization. In theorizing the global age, he considers the worldwide environmental consequences of aggregate human activities, the reconception of human security in the age of nuclear weapons, technological advances in communication systems, the rise of a global economy, and the growing reflexivity of global consciousness, as people and groups begin to refer to the globe as the frame for their beliefs. The book concludes by examining the consequences of the Global Age thesis for politics, identifying a new popular construction of the state that the author terms "performative citizenship." In the modern age, the nation-state was the central power and citizens were beneficiaries of that power, with rights and duties. In the global age, citizens respond to the lack of central power by creating, or performing, the state themselves. The global managerial class uses the skills learned in the bureaucracy of the nation-state to bring pressure on national governments in the interests of global economic, environmental, or human-rights issues.

The societies of the present world are experiencing many turbulent changes. New forces of change and modernization are driving people, business and cultures across borders. The world has become a home to a new generation of homo sapiens who are curious about others but, at the same time, cherish to preserve their own cultures. What is the nature of this evolving world society? Is the world driving toward a new global civilization—an "end of history"— or an inevitable civilizational clash? The present volume has brought together leading scholars in the field to examine the concept of globalization, deliberate on the character of its multifaceted nature and expressions, and delineate its impact on the emerging world economy, politics, culture, and science. A number of substantive issues such as the emergence of new global economic inequality, culture and the role of the trans-nationals, nature of the emerging global environmental regimes, rise of the NICs, and the conflicting role of the nation-states in the face of the advancing forces of globalization are addressed. It is contended that globalization should be perceived neither as an unbounded economic progress nor as an expansion of western domination. Globalization is, rather, defined as a new development strategy--a process of change that can be planned, guided, and controlled. For national political and business leaders of the world, the volume provides a blueprint of the emerging areas of policy concerns and guidance. For the world of social science, it presents a road-map of the emerging intellectual issues and challenges. Contributors are Alessandro Bonanno, Stephen W.K. Chiu, Douglas Constance, Richard J. Estes, R. Scott Frey, Archibald O. Haller, George A. Miller, Proshanta K. Nandi, Winifred R. Poster, J. Timmons Roberts, Shahid M. Shahidullah, Bam Dev Sharda, and Alvin Y. So.

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Sociology - Politics, Majorities, Minorities, grade: 1, University of Vienna, course: Economic Sociology, language: English, abstract: We eat Spanish tomatoes, drink French wine, drive Japanese cars and wear clothes produced in Bangladesh. Europeans celebrate Halloween, the whole world is listening to American Pop Music and our neighbours come from all over the world. This shows that economy and society have reached a global level. Due to this, globalization has become a key issue in the social analysis of economy over the past years. In this work, I will analyse the sociological understandings of globalization, its causes and its consequences. Starting from a definition of globalization and the connection of globalization and capitalism, I will then point out the origins of globalization and the subjects in sociology of globalization. I will analyse the causes and consequences of globalization from a sociological point of view. I come to the conclusion that globalization led to an increase of welfare all over the world but there are also new problems which need to be solved.

Heralding a push for higher education to adopt a more global perspective, the term "globalizing knowledge" is today a popular catchphrase among academics and their circles. The complications and consequences of this desire for greater worldliness, however, are rarely considered critically. In this groundbreaking cultural-political sociology of knowledge and change, Michael D. Kennedy rearticulates questions, approaches, and case studies to clarify intellectuals' and institutions' responsibilities in a world defined by transformation and crisis. Globalizing Knowledge introduces the stakes of globalizing knowledge before examining how intellectuals and their institutions and networks shape and are shaped by globalization and world-historical events from 2001 through the uprisings of 2011–13. But Kennedy is not only concerned with elaborating how wisdom is maintained and transmitted, he also asks how we can recognize both interconnectedness and inequalities, and possibilities for more knowledgeable change within and beyond academic circles. Subsequent chapters are devoted to issues of public engagement, the importance of recognizing difference and the local's implication in the global, and the specific ways in which knowledge, images, and symbols are shared globally. Kennedy considers numerous case studies, from historical happenings in Poland, Kosova, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, to today's energy crisis, Pussy Riot, the Occupy Movement, and beyond, to illuminate how knowledge functions and might be used to affect good in the world.