Unpacking Globalization examines the experiences of people living with the forces that are transforming economic systems, culture, gender relationships and governance. The book offers interdisciplinary analysis of the well-being of women and men as they cope with the changes of globalization. Through theory, case studies, and data, several themes emerge indicating that from the household to the continental level, change is leading to new awareness and new survival strategies for both women and men. The contributors to the volume come from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. They present analysis of global changes and historical background from diverse perspectives and offer case studies on social security, gender, and macroeconomy. They employ feminist theory as well as detail the experiences of current and future women entrepreneurs. An exciting interdisciplinary text, Unpacking Globalization can supplement women's studies, anthropology, sociology, and economic development courses.

Unpacking Globalization examines the experiences of people living with the forces that are transforming economic systems, culture, gender relationships and governance. The book offers interdisciplinary analysis of the well-being of women and men as they cope with the changes of globalization. Through theory, case studies, and data, several themes emerge indicating that from the household to the continental level, change is leading to new awareness and new survival strategies for both women and men. The contributors to the volume come from Africa, Asia, Europe, and North and South America. They present analysis of global changes and historical background from diverse perspectives and offer case studies on social security, gender, and macroeconomy. They employ feminist theory as well as detail the experiences of current and future women entrepreneurs. An exciting interdisciplinary text, Unpacking Globalization can supplement women's studies, anthropology, sociology, and economic development courses.

This brilliantly original book dismantles the underlying assumptions that drive the decisions made by companies and governments throughout the world, to show that our shared narrative of the global economy is deeply flawed. If left unexamined, they will lead corporations and countries astray, with dire consequences for us all. For the past fifty years or so, the global economy has been run on three big assumptions: that globalization will continue to spread, that trade is the engine of growth and development, and that economic power is moving from the West to the East. More recently, it has also been taken as a given that our interconnectedness—both physical and digital—will increase without limit. But what if all these ideas are wrong? What if everything is about to change? What if it has already begun to change but we just haven't noticed? Increased automation, the advent of additive manufacturing (3D printing, for example), and changes in shipping and environmental pressures, among other factors, are coming together to create a fast-changing global economic landscape in which the rules are being rewritten—at once a challenge and an opportunity for companies and countries alike.

This book asks two broad questions: how and by whom have the meanings of different terms used to describe, challenge and defend global trade politics been constructed?

'Globalization' is a word that is currently much in use. This book is an attempt to show that there is far more to globalization than its surface manifestations. Unpacking the social roots and social consequences of globalizing processes, this book disperses some of the mist that surrounds the term. Alongside the emerging planetary dimensions of business, finance, trade and information flow, a 'localizing', space-fixing process is set in motion. What appears as globalization for some, means localization for many others; signalling new freedom for some, globalizing processes appear as uninvited and cruel fate for many others. Freedom to move, a scarce and unequally distributed commodity, quickly becomes the main stratifying factor of our times. Neo-tribal and fundamentalist tendencies are as legitimate offspring of globalization as the widely acclaimed 'hybridization' of top culture - the culture at the globalized top. A particular reason to worry is the progressive breakdown in communication between the increasingly global and extra- territorial elites and ever more 'localized' majority. The bulk of the population, the 'new middle class', bears the brunt of these problems, and suffers uncertainty, anxiety and fear as a result. This book is a major contribution to the unfolding debate about globalization, and as such will be of interest to students and professionals in sociology, human geography and cultural issues.

An inspiring collection that uses case studies and theoretical reflection to contextualise the linkages between collective action theories, social movement practices and the phenomenon of globalisation. All of the perspectives presented will force a rethink of the exact meaning of globalisation and the way in which such insights can be used to advance understanding of basic transformations occurring in the diverse world of the twenty-first century.