In this sixth edition of The Globalization Reader, we retain several features of the previous editions:
- Purpose: Our goal is to provide a variety of perspectives on different dimensions of globalization, thus conveying its importance and complexity.
- Structure: Like its predecessors, this book is organized into sections covering many aspects of globalization, from theoretical to experiential, and from economic to cultural.
- Issues: The Reader illustrates many issues related to globalization, including trends in global inequality, the specter of greater cultural homogeneity, and the movement for global justice.
- Selections: As in previous editions, we draw from several disciplines to offer a diverse sample of high‐quality, readable scholarly work on globalization.
To reflect new developments and to make the Reader even more useful and engaging, we have also made some changes:
- Introductions: We have updated several editorial introductions.
- Revised sections: We have enhanced various sections as follows:
- A new item on the UN Millennium Goals in the debate section
- New selections on virtual migration and medical tourism in the section on experiencing globalization
- A new item on the US as a “sticky superpower” in the economic section
- New selections dealing with policies on sexual relations and abortion in the section on the nation‐state
- A new item on the UN Global Compact in the section on governance
- A new item on the role of NGOs addressing climate change in the civil society section
- A new item on the Korean Wave in the media section
- A new item on Asian religious practices in the religion section
- A new item on cosmopolitanism in the identity section
- A new item on climate justice movements in the environment section
- New selections on critical and populist responses to globalization in the final section on contesting globalization.
- An expanded range of voices: The selections represent both established and younger scholars with diverse backgrounds, now including contributors from Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, India, Korea, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Sweden, and the UK.
As always, we hope this updated edition will help both new and returning readers make better sense of globalization.
Frank J. Lechner and John Boli