Globalization: The Essentials

by George Ritzer, Paul Dean

A concise exploration of globalization and its role in the contemporary era   Driven by technological advancements and global corporations, more and more people are swept up by globalizing processes, creating new winners and losers. Globalization: The Essentials explores the flows, structures, processes, and consequences of globalization in the modern economic, political, and cultural landscape. This comprehensive introduction offers balanced coverage of areas such as global economic and cultural flows, environmental sustainability, the impact of technology, and racial, economic, and gender inequality ― providing readers with foundational knowledge of globalization. Extensively revised and updated, this second edition includes expanded coverage of human trafficking and migration, global climate change, fake news and information wars, and transnational social movements with increased emphasis on examples from Central and South America, Africa, and Asia: Emphasizing student comprehension, a wide range of source material is incorporated including empirical research, relevant theories, newspaper and magazine articles, and popular books and monographs. Examples of current research and recent global developments, such as emerging economies and global health concerns, encourage classroom discussion and promote independent study.  Globalization: The Essentials ― a compact edition of the authors’ full-sized textbook Globalization: A Basic Text ― provides concise coverage of the central concepts of this dynamic field. Offering a multidisciplinary approach, this textbook is an invaluable primary or supplemental resource for undergraduate study in any social science field, as well as coursework on economics, migration, inequality and stratification, and politics.

Genres: Nonfiction

400 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2010

About the author

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. He has named at Distinguished-Scholar Teacher at Maryland and received the American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award. Among his academic awards are an Honorary Doctorate from La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia; Honorary Patron, University Philosophical Society, Trinity College, Dublin; and the 2012-2013 Robin William Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. He has chaired four Sections of the American Sociological Association- Theoretical Sociology, Organizations and Occupations, first Chair of Global and Transnational Sociology, and the History of Sociology.
His books have been translated into over twenty languages, with over a dozen translations of The McDonaldization of Society alone.

Reviews

[Afomya Alemayehu · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very hard to get through, the sheer size of the content seemed unsurmountable at times. Also, I wouldn't have read this if it wasn't required for my Global Affairs class. But I still thoroughly enjoyed what I learned and discovered through this book. It has given me a well-rounded understanding of Globalization in all its forms.

[Aslihan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel obliged to write a review for this book in case another professor would assign it as a required reading. This is probably the most shallow and superficial reading of globalization. First it is not well organized. Yes the theory and the micro cases are separated, however, the sections following the theory chapters are disorganized. There are several overlaps and repetitions in discussions that it is hard to believe the book is written and edited by one single person. Despite having a chapter on globalization and migration, the discussion of migration pops up again in relation to global inequality. Contemporary scholars of globalization are not well cited in the book so it's risky to use this book as a core reading material. Two stars for the McDonaldization thesis.