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The Globalization of Nothing 2
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The Globalization of Nothing 2



January 2007 | 264 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
The Globalization of Nothing is back in a revised and completely updated Second Edition. In this reconceptualized volume, author George Ritzer focuses his attention squarely on the processes of globalization and how they relate to McDonaldization. This revision is shorter, more concise, and spends much less space on the Nothing-Something continuum that he introduced in the First Edition.

New to the Second Edition:

- Clearly focuses on the main topic of globalization

- Offers a new way to conceptualize and theorize about globalization: This edition delves into two sub-processes of globalization—"glocalization" and "grobalization"

- Provides a new way to think about consumer culture and globalization: New material is presented on consumer culture and its globalization as well as the role of branding

- Uses a non-technical and accessible style, with many global examples: The examples in this book are drawn from everyday life and global consumer culture that are readily recognizable to students.

This text can be used in a variety of courses focusing on the principles of sociology, social change, social theory, globalization, consumerism, and the global economy taught through Sociology departments. It can also be used in courses focusing on globalization, consumerism, and the global economy taught through Political Science and Economic departments.

 
About the Author
 
Preface
 
1. Globalization: A New Conceptualization
Key Topics in the Study of Globalization

 
Globalization Theories

 
Glocalization and Grobalization

 
Grobalization: The Major Processes

 
Glocal, Grobal, and Local

 
 
2. Nothing (and Something): Another New Conceptualization
Defining Nothing

 
Defining Something

 
The Something-Nothing Continuum

 
Globalization and the Dimensions of Nothing

 
 
3. Meet the Nullities: Nonplaces, Nonthings, Nonpeople, and Nonservices
Nonplaces (and Places)

 
Nonthings (and Things)

 
Nonpeople (and People)

 
Nonservice (and Service)

 
Relationships Among the Nullities

 
An Illustrative Excursion to the Movies

 
 
4. Nothing: Caveats and Clarifications
Conceptual Aids to Understanding Nothing

 
Some Paradoxes

 
The Social Construction of Nothing

 
The Economics of Nothing (and Something)

 
In Defense of Nothing

 
 
5. The Globalization of Nothing
Elective Affinities

 
Grobalization: Loose Cultural and Tight Structural Forms

 
The Grobalization of Nothing: Enabling Factors

 
 
6. Theorizing Glocalization and Grobalization
Theorizing the Globalization of Culture

 
Analyzing Sport: Use and Abuse of the Concept of Glocalization

 
Analyzing McDonaldization Anthropologically: More Use and Abuse of Glocalization

 
Thinking About the Fate of the Local

 
Contributions to Cultural Theories of Globalization

 
 
7. The Globalization of Consumer Culture---and Global Opposition to It
Elements of Consumer Culture

 
Driving Forces Behind the Globalization of Consumer Culture

 
The Role of Branding

 
Beyond the Usual "Consumer" Suspects

 
Global Attacks on the Symbols of American Consumer Culture

 
The Globalization of Nothing and September 11, 2001

 
 
8. Loss Amidst Monumental Abundance---and Global Strategies for Coping With It
Theory and the Paradoxes of Consumer Culture

 
Loss Amidst Monumental Abundance

 
Strategies for Overcoming the Sense of Loss

 
 
Notes
 
Index

"This edition is a shorter, tighter, and more focused book that deals focally and directly with globalization, at least as it relates to nothing and something. Readers will come away from this revision with not only a new way of looking at globalization but also a sense of the problems posed by the globalization of nothing and the need to find ways to deal with its pernicious aspects."

Savannah Jones

Perfect for any contemporary theory surrounding the phenomena of globalisation.

Mr Lewis Simpson
Department of Health & Social Studies, Grimsby Institute of HE & FE
June 16, 2015

Clear and concise conceptualization of globalization written in a very accessible style for UG students.

Dr Anthony Bush
School for Health, Bath University
October 29, 2015

A very interesting, accessible and comprehensive book.

Dr Svetlana Stephenson
Dept of Applied Social Sciences, London Metropolitan Uni (North Campus)
January 9, 2013

The book perfectly fits when speaking about global trends of consumption and global consumer culture. For this course, the following chapters are essential: Chapter 3 - Meet the Nullities: Nonplaces, Nonthings, Nonpeople, and Nonservices (obligatory reading for course part about Consumer culture) and Chapter 7: The Globalization of Consumer Culture - and Global Opposition to it (obligatory reading for course part about Consumer culture).

Dr Egle Butkeviciene
Department of Sociology, Kaunas University of Technology
November 12, 2009

George Ritzer

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader... More About Author

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ISBN: 9781412940221
$95.00