The Blackwell Companion to Globalization

This companion features 35 original essays on the complexity of globalization and its diverse and sometimes conflicting effects. Written by top scholars in the field, it offers a nuanced and detailed examination of globalization that includes both positive and critical evaluations.

The essays focus on key questions in the debate surrounding globalization: does globalization bring with it more or less inequality? How is power distributed globally? What role does technology play? What is the significance of the nation-state in contemporary globalization? The volume also explores the often overlooked underbelly of globalization, including coverage of international terrorism, sex trafficking, corruption, war, and environmental problems.

The Blackwell Companion to Globalization introduces the major players, theories, and methodologies, and explores the major areas affected by globalization including the environment, media and communication, and economic and social relationships.

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. He was awarded the 2000 Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association and he has authored more than 25 books including several student textbooks. He has been a major contributor to the literature on globalization, especially in The McDonaldization of Society (4 editions, last in 2004), Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society (1995) and most recently (2004), The Globalization of Nothing (2nd edition to be published in 2007 as The Globalization of Nothing 2). He is editor of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007).