Creative Destruction by
A Frenchman rents a Hollywood movie. A Thai schoolgirl mimics Madonna. Saddam Hussein chooses Frank Sinatra's "My Way" as the theme song for his fifty-fourth birthday. It is a commonplace that globalization is subverting local culture. But is it helping as much as it hurts? In this strikingly original treatment of a fiercely debated issue, Tyler Cowen makes a bold new case for a more sympathetic understanding of cross-cultural trade. Creative Destruction brings not stale suppositions but an economist's eye to bear on an age-old question: Are market exchange and aesthetic quality friends or foes? On the whole, argues Cowen in clear and vigorous prose, they are friends. Cultural "destruction" breeds not artistic demise but diversity. Through an array of colorful examples from the areas where globalization's critics have been most vocal, Cowen asks what happens when cultures collide through trade, whether technology destroys native arts, why (and whether) Hollywood movies rule the world, whether "globalized" culture is dumbing down societies everywhere, and if national cultures matter at all. Scrutinizing such manifestations of "indigenous" culture as the steel band ensembles of Trinidad, Indian handweaving, and music from Zaire, Cowen finds that they are more vibrant than ever--thanks largely to cross-cultural trade. For all the pressures that market forces exert on individual cultures, diversity typically increases within society, even when cultures become more like each other. Trade enhances the range of individual choice, yielding forms of expression within cultures that flower as never before. While some see cultural decline as a half-empty glass, Cowen sees it as a glass half-full with the stirrings of cultural brilliance. Not all readers will agree, but all will want a say in the debate this exceptional book will stir.
Collapse by
In his million-copy bestseller Guns, Germs, and Steel, Jared Diamond examined how and why Western civilizations developed the technologies and immunities that allowed them to dominate much of the world. Now in this brilliant companion volume, Diamond probes the other side of the equation: What caused some of the great civilizations of the past to collapse into ruin, and what can we learn from their fates? As in Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond weaves an all-encompassing global thesis through a series of fascinating historical-cultural narratives. Moving from the Polynesian cultures on Easter Island to the flourishing American civilizations of the Anasazi and the Maya and finally to the doomed Viking colony on Greenland, Diamond traces the fundamental pattern of catastrophe. Environmental damage, climate change, rapid population growth, and unwise political choices were all factors in the demise of these societies, but other societies found solutions and persisted. Similar problems face us today and have already brought disaster to Rwanda and Haiti, even as China and Australia are trying to cope in innovative ways. Despite our own society's apparently inexhaustible wealth and unrivaled political power, ominous warning signs have begun to emerge even in ecologically robust areas like Montana. Brilliant, illuminating, and immensely absorbing, Collapse is destined to take its place as one of the essential books of our time, raising the urgent question: How can our world best avoid committing ecological suicide? Look out for Jared Diamond's latest book, The World Until Yesterday, coming from Viking in January 2013.
The Political Economy of Social Inequalities by
In the last two decades of the 20th century, we witnessed a dramatic growth in social inequalities within and among countries. This has had a most negative impact on the health and quality of life of large sectors of the populations in the developed and underdeveloped world. This volume analyzes the reasons for this increase in inequalities and its consequences for the well-being of populations. Scholars from a variety of disciplines and countries analyze the different dimensions of this topic.
Technology and Social Inclusion by
Much discussion of new technologies and social equality has focused on the oversimplified notion of a digital divide. Technology and Social Inclusion moves beyond the limited view of haves and have-nots to analyze the different forms of access to information and communication technologies. Drawing on theory from political science, economics, sociology, psychology, communications, education and linguistics, the book examines the ways in which differing access to technology contributes to social and economic stratification or inclusion. The book takes a global perspective, presenting case studies from developed and developing countries, including Brazil, China, Egypt, India and the United States.
Children of Global Migration by
In the Philippines, a dramatic increase in labor migration has created a large population of transnational migrant families. Thousands of children now grow up apart from one or both parents, as the parents are forced to work outside the country in order to send their children to school, give them access to quality health care, or, in some cases, just provide them with enough food. While the issue of transnational families has already generated much interest, this book is the first to offer a close look at the lives of the children in these families. Drawing on in-depth interviews with the family members left behind, the author examines two dimensions of the transnational family. First, she looks at the impact of distance on the intergenerational relationships, specifically from the children's perspective. She then analyzes gender norms in these families, both their reifications and transgressions in transnational households. Acknowledging that geographical separation unavoidably strains family intimacy, Parre#65533;as argues that the maintenance of traditional gender ideologies exacerbates and sometimes even creates the tensions that plague many Filipino migrant families.
Globalizing Women by
Globalization may offer modern feminism its greatest opportunity and greatest challenge. Allowing communication and information exchange while also exacerbating economic and social inequalities, globalization has fostered the growth of transnational feminist networks (TFNs). These groups have used the Internet to build coalitions, lobby governments, and advance the goals of feminism. Globalizing Women explains how the negative and positive aspects of globalization have helped to create transnational networks of activists and organizations with common agendas. Sociologist Valentine M. Moghadam discusses six such feminist networks to analyze the organization, objectives, programs, and outcomes of these groups in their effort to improve conditions for women throughout the world. Moghadam also examines how globalizing women are responding to and resisting growing inequalities, the exploitation of female labor, and patriarchal fundamentalisms.
Globalization and Human Rights by
In this landmark volume, Alison Brysk has assembled an impressive array of scholars to address new questions about globalization and human rights. Is globalization generating both problems and opportunities? Are new problems replacing or intensifying state repression? How effective are new forms of human rights accountability? These essays include theoretical analyses by Richard Falk, Jack Donnelly, and James Rosenau. Chapters on sex tourism, international markets, and communications technology bring new perspectives to emerging issues. The authors investigate places such as the Dominican Republic, Nigeria, and the Philippines. The contemporary world is defined by globalization. While global human rights standards and institutions have been established, assaults on human dignity continue. These essays identify the new challenges to be faced, and suggest new ways to remedy the costs of globalization.
Cultural Geography by
As geography has become influenced by such themes as postcolonial studies,feminism and psychoanalysis, so students have had to engage with ideas andconcepts from outside the traditional boundaries of their subject. This exciting new book provides students with an invaluable aid to understanding the complexities and subtleties of these new ideas: Critical Geographies presents short essays exploring the key concepts in cultural geography.Written by leading practitioners, the essays range from questions that haverecently emerged to more established ideas that warrant criticalexamination. Topics include (dis)ability, embodiment, governance, heritage,identity, postmodernity, psychogeographies, queer theory, space. The book will be invaluable to students of cultural geography and to students of related disciplines.
Global Institutions, Marginalization, and Development by
For more than a century and a half, the most powerful national governments have created institutions of multilateral governance that promise to make a more inclusive world, a world serving women, working people, the colonized, the 'backward', the destitute, and the despised. This groundbreaking book is a study of that promise, and of the real impact of this world government. It discusses what systems global institutions have, and have not done to keep their promise, and examines whether the system will serve the world's least-advantaged, or marginalize them further. This book focuses on whether it is the 'economists and political philosophers of the rich', or the social movements of the disadvantaged that are most likely to influence the world's lawmakers, and the processes by which they will complete the next generation of multilateral institutions. An innovative study, this book is important reading for anyone with an interest in international political economy, global governance, development and the politics of north-south relations.
Women, Poverty, and Demographic Change by
This book analyses the specific demographic implications and conditioning factors of women's experience of poverty. By investigating the different experiences that women in developing countries face in attempting to escape from poverty, the contributors illustrate the importance of incorporating the gender perspective into population studies. Higher fertility levels and early nuptiality patterns among the poor are frequently attributed to socioeconomic reasons. The authors of this book demonstrate the importance of looking at other dimensions, such as the subordinate roles of women in their families of origin and the centrality of motherhood in women's lives. Some chapters also show how gender inequality in educational skills and cultural norms regarding motherhood, marital status, and the limiting of physical movement explain why poverty alleviation strategies such as market work and migration may have different results for men and women. Finally, other authors look into women's autonomy in household decisions as a factor that exerts a strong influence on their ability to obtain maternal and infant health care.
Browse these call number ranges in the library stacks:
HM - Sociology (General)
HN - Social History and Conditions
HQ - Women
J - Political Science