Globalization: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring

We live today in an interconnected world in which ordinary people can became instant online celebrities to millions of fans thousands of miles away, in which religious leaders can influence billions globally, in which humans are altering the climate and environment, in which new infectious diseases spread across continents at lightning speed, and in which complex social forces are increasingly impacted by digital technology. This is globalization.

In the sixth edition of his bestselling Very Short Introduction, Manfred B. Steger offers concise definitions of pertinent key terms and concepts. He provides an accessible overview of the long history of globalization followed by an examination of its major dimensions: economic, political, cultural, ideological, and ecological. He also engages the hotly contested question of whether it is, ultimately, a good or a bad thing. From climate change to the COVID-19 pandemic, resurgent nationalism to global social media, trade wars to China's growing global profile, Russia's expansionism to renewed fears of nuclear conflicts, he explores today's unprecedented levels of planetary integration and disruption.

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Manfred B. Steger, Professor of Sociology, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa

Manfred B. Steger is Professor of Sociology at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. He also served as a globalization consultant for the U.S. Department of State and as advisor to the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service. He is the author or editor of thirty books on globalization and political and social theory, including The Rise of the Global Imaginary (OUP, 2008); the award-winning Globalisms: Facing the Populist Challenge, 4th ed.; and Globalization Matters: Engaging the Global in Unsettled Times.