Overview
* First book to study the intersection of globalization and social exclusion
* This renowned author has published over 20 books on issues of globalization and development studies
* Author directed the Globalization and Social Exclusion Unit at the University of Liverpool
We inhabit a world of consequences and butterfly effects. When global economies integrate, what disintegrates as a result? The answer, Ronaldo Munck contends, is social equality. This is the first book to view globalization through the lens of social exclusion—defined as all the ways in which people are prevented from obtaining the necessities of life.
To illustrate how globalization deepens the existing inequities of race, place, gender, and class, in both the global North and South, the author highlights disparities in living conditions; the feminization of poverty and the global sex trade; the effects of racism, migration, and multiculturalism; and the formation and political manifestations of social class.
He boldly develops a politics and ethics of transformation to move us beyond social exclusion—even beyond mere social inclusion. He provides us with the tools to transform society from within, creating a more democratic and just global order.
Synopsis
Munck argues that social exclusion—all the ways people are excluded from the necessities of life—is the social counterpart of globalization, a concept now dominating and driving economic, social, and welfare policy-making. Rather than set pro- and anti- globalization forces against each other, however, he takes what he calls a transformationalist perspective to explore the trajectory of globalization, how it deepens existing inequities of race, place, gender, and class, and how it can instead itself be changed to result in more social inclusion—that is, a more democratic and just global order. Munck, a political sociologist, directs Dublin City U.'s efforts to engage with globalization and social development. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Editorials
From the Publisher
"An important text for students and faculty, Munck has written a comprenenshive and cogent road map of globalization that places inequality at the forefront.""This is not simply one more book on globalization but a radical, scholarly, and engaged attempt to say something new about exactly how the present form of capitalist globalization does not minimize social exclusion, as its proponents claim, but actually intensifies it all over the world."
"Amid the vast array of manifestos, scholarly essays, anthologies, and books that have been made available since the late 90s, Munck's book marks itself as a useful cognitive map of these "interesting times." A distinguished sociologist who has "always tried to to make sociology relevant to society and engaged on behalf of the disempowered" - has benefited from his own hindsight and from the lessons of recent history."