Many Globalizations : Cultural Diversity in the Contemporary World - Hardcover

Berger, Peter L.; Huntington, Samuel P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0195151461 ISBN 13: 9780195151466

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Much discussed but poorly understood, globalization is praised as the answer to all the world's problems and blamed for everything from pollution to poverty. In Many Globalizations, Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington bring together an array of scholars from around the world, who paint a far subtler and more richly shaded portrait, showing both the power and the unexpected consequences of this great force.
Here the stereotypes of globalization as American imperialism on the one hand or economic cure-all on the other fall apart under the close scrutiny of these leading scholars. Looking at globalization in countries such as Chile, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Turkey, Hungary, Taiwan, India, and the United States, they show that an emerging global culture does indeed exist, one that is heavily American in origin and content, but that is far from a centrally directed force like classic imperialism--nor is it simply a "metastasized Disneyland." They examine the currents that carry this culture, from a worldwide class of young professionals to nongovernmental organizations, and define globalization's many variations (ranging from Buddhist influences to Islamic modernism) as well as subglobalizations that bind regions together. The authors also draw attention to globalizing forces that have escaped media scrutiny, such as the role of evangelical Protestantism (which both adapts to local languages and cultures, and introduce distinctively American values) and Opus Dei, the conservative Catholic movement that originated in Spain.
Analytical, incisive and stimulating, Many Globalizations offers rare insight into perhaps the central issue of modern times, one that is changing the West as much as the developing world.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Berger is University Professor of Sociology and Theology at Boston University, and Director of the Institute for the Study of Economic Culture. Samuel P. Huntington is Albert J. Weatherhead III University Professor at Harvard University and Chairman of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies in the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. He is the author of The Clash of Civilizations and the Making of World Order and co-editor of Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress.

Review

"Provocative.... Taken together, the trenchant, well-written essays included in this collection provide indisputable evidence that an identifiable global culture is indeed emerging."--World Policy Journal

"A fascinating series of accounts, country by country, of how, as the world is thought to be getting ever smaller under the force of globalization, individual cultures are both responding to it and at the same time finding the means to sustain themselves. Nor could there be any better guides to this subject than the co-editors of this volume, Peter Berger and Samuel Huntington, whose insights into the play of culture both in the world and local affairs have been nothing short of germinal."--Midge Decter

"Finally a volume that gives the cultural side of globalization the analytic clarity it deserves. This rich collection of studies of local transformations in an era of global change reveal that cultural globalization is far more interesting and diverse than we thought. Highly readable, unfailingly rich in detail and stunning in its insights, Many Globalizations is a landmark in the study of public culture on a global scale."--Mark Juergensmeyer, Director of Global and International Studies at UC Santa Barbara

"'Globalization' has been a buzzword of uncertain content, glibly tossed about, but now with this theoretically insightful and data-rich book, the concept becomes a powerful analytical tool for illuminating profound historical processes. Working together, a team of country specialists identify what is unique and what is universal in the clashes of particular cultures with the modernizing forces of globalization."--Lucian Pye, Department of Political Science, MIT

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0195151461
• ISBN 13: 9780195151466
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 374