Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 280
•
Trim: 6¼ x 9¼
978-1-4422-1526-9 • Hardback • January 2016 • $138.00 • (£106.00)
978-1-4422-1527-6 • Paperback • January 2016 • $58.00 • (£45.00)
978-1-4422-1528-3 • eBook • January 2016 • $55.00 • (£42.00)
Robert K. Schaeffer is professor of sociology at California Polytechnic State University. He is author or coauthor of a number of books, including Social Movements and Global Social Change: The Rising Tide and Fast Forward: Work, Gender, and Protest in a Changing World.
PrefaceIntroduction- The Crisis of Globalization
- The Rise of Wall Street
- The Housing Boom
- Financial Crisis and Great Recession
- Democratization in the Republics
- Division and Sub-division, Conflict and War
- Globalization and China
- Marginalization and Exit in Africa
- Globalization and Global Warming
This book is wonderful. It presents a very clear history of modern globalization and the role the United States has played in this process. It is currently the best book on explaining the historical conditions that have led to modern globalization.
— Gabriel Aquino, Westfield State University
Understanding Globalization reveals the complex, uneven, and often contradictory outcomes of globalization, such as growing economic inequality in some places, and increasing equality in others. It can facilitate economic integration as it has done in China or exacerbate disintegration and marginalization as it has in Africa. In this fifth edition, Robert Schaeffer explores how globalization impacts long-term processes such as development, democratization, and climate change, and how it can create short-term crises, such as war and conflict, and the 2008 global financial crisis that began in the United States. As a geographer, I appreciate that the book soundly documents the consequences that globalization has on both people and places, and that it seeks to explain a dynamic that is unevenly experienced around the world. The book is both accessible and substantial—a rare accomplishment. It has become my 'go-to' book on globalization.
— Lisa Benton-Short, George Washington University
Praise for previous editions:
This clearly written and vastly comprehensive book is a valuable and fascinating read. . . . Schaeffer turns his gaze to topics as varied as inflation, debt crises at home and abroad, stock market booms and busts, hunger and agriculture, free trade agreements, global climate change, democratization, and the global drug trade. In nearly every case, the research is solid and the choice of details fascinating. . . . I would recommend this book for general readers . . . or mid-level courses wishing to incorporate a global perspective.
— Contemporary Sociology
Understanding Globalization is an exceptional book that thoroughly covers contemporary issues relating to globalization that students find extremely readable.
— Ione DeOllos, Ball State University
- An excellent primer for understanding the roots and consequences of current global developments
- Includes a clear explanation of the history of globalization and conveys key themes without difficult theoretical analysis
- Introduces students to both the positive and the negative consequences of globalization
- “This clearly written and vastly comprehensive book is a valuable and fascinating read.”
—Contemporary Sociology praise for previous editions
NEW TO THE FIFTH EDITION- Maintains the chronological history of globalization that teachers and students appreciate while restructuring the book so that the current economic crisis serves as the central focus point
- A new preface clearly explains the new organization to make material easy to find for previous adopters
- Includes current examples and analysis throughout—the long reach of the financial crisis, global migration issues, the emergence of ISIS, the Arab Spring and its aftermath, and much more