Questioning Globalization: The Culture of Capital

by Ali Mohammadi

The term globalization is widely used. But what does it actually mean? In this book, Ali Mohammadi goes back to the basics by asking how and why we think about globalization and to insist that globalization itself cannot be discussed solely in political or economic terms. It is also, crucially, a cultural phenomenon. Beginning with a critique of globalization theory, Ali focuses on the development of the culture of capital and culture itself. He examines the tension between the local and the global, focusing in particular on transnational media control/ownership, and at the ways in which global media promote a predominantly Western consumerist ideology. The emergence of the mega-corporation, he argues, is a transparently colonial enterprise - and must be recognized and critiqued as such. Questioning Globalization unpacks and clarifies the paradigms underpinning the globalization debate, and adds an important and previously largely overlooked dimension to that debate.

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002