Understanding Globalization: The Social Consequences of Political, Economic, and Environmental Change - Softcover

Schaeffer, Robert K.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0847683524 ISBN 13: 9780847683529

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1997

Synopsis

Today 'globalization' is bandied about by nearly everyone. But how many of us really understand the new complexities brought about by changes that have only intensified near the end of this century? Students of sociology, politics, history, and economics will appreciate this vibrant introduction to globalization by scholar and former journalist Robert K. Schaeffer. He examines the diverse social consequences of global problems for people in different settings, with detailed case histories of dollar devaluations, debt crises, political partitions, environmental dilemmas, drug trafficking, democratization, free trade agreements, food overproduction, and more. His analytic narrative clarifies how complex developments and arcane institutions (such as the World Bank or G-7) affect everyday lives. While examples are used from around the world, the first part of the book 'brings the story home' by showing how global events impact people here in the United States.

About this title

About the Author

Robert K. Schaeffer, associate professor of sociology at San Jose State University, is former managing editor of In These Times and Greenpeace and the author of Warpaths: The Politics of Partition and Power to the People: Democratization around the World.

Review

This clearly written and vastly comprehensive book is a valuable and fascinating read. . . . Schaeffer turns his gaze to topics as varied as inflation, debt crises at home and abroad, stock market booms and busts, hunger and agriculture, free trade agreements, global climate change, democratization, and the global drug trade. In nearly every case, the research is solid and the choice of details fascinating. . . I would recommend this book for general readers . . . or mid-level courses wishing to incorporate a global perspective. (J. Timmons Roberts Contemporary Sociology)

A remarkably clear exposition of the major economic developments of the last two decades. It cuts through jargon and pap, and is therefore a great assist to serious reflection and intelligent debate for all concerned citizens. (Wallerstein, Immanuel)

Robert Schaeffer has taken the entire world as his subject and has made it remarkably comprehensible. Schaeffer makes sense of everything from ethnic separation to global warming, from third world hunger to the inflation of stock prices, from trade deficits to the fall of communism. He shows how they are not discrete events, but part of a new global economy that has emerged over the last three decades. I can't think of a better guide to this new world. (Judis, John B.)

There are a number of interesting ideas contained in this book. (Rorden Wilkinson Political Studies)

Globalization is a multifaceted phenomenon, and Robert Schaeffer's inquiry creatively—and yet in detail—traces both the uniformities and the diversities embedded in its dynamics. Using ample historical, economic, and political materials, he digs deep into diverse globalizing processes and, in so doing, convincingly demonstrates how these processes are tailored to particular circumstances even as they also reflect shared values, concerns, and practices. (Rosenau, James N.)

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0847683524
• ISBN 13: 9780847683529
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368