S
ociology grew out of a desire
to understand, and suggest
ways of improving, the
modern society that had emerged
during the Enlightenment,
and especially the effects of
industrialization, rationalization,
and capitalism. But as the
discipline of sociology became
more firmly established in the
latter part of the 20th century,
it became apparent that there
was another force driving social
change: globalization.
International trade had
been in force for centuries, with
multinational corporations rooted
in the trading empires of the 16th
and 17th centuries, so the idea of
globalization was nothing new.
However, since the Industrial
Revolution, the pace of progress
in transport and communication
had accelerated. In the 20th
century, the telegraph and aviation
revolutionized international
connections, and post-World
War II information technology
has sustained this pattern.Network society
While many people feel that the
world has entered a new, post-
industrial, postmodern age,
others see globalization as simply
a continuation of the process of
modernity. Zygmunt Bauman, for
example, argues that what began
with industrialization has now
entered a mature, “late modern”
stage as technology has become
ever more sophisticated. The
nature of technological progress
means this stage is characterized
by a “liquid modernity”—a state
of constant change.Perhaps the most noticeable social
effect of these technological
advances has been from the
improvement of communications.
From telephones to the Internet,
the world has become increasingly
interconnected, and social
networks now transcend national
boundaries. Information technology
has not only made commercial
transactions quicker and easier
than ever, but has also connected
individuals and communities that
had previously been isolated.
Manuel Castells was among the
first to identify the social effects of
this network society, while Roland
Robertson argued that rather than
having a homogenizing effect
(by creating a universal model
of society), globalization was in
fact merging with local cultures
to produce new social systems.INTRODUCTION
1848
1974
1990 S
1991
1986
1990 S
1992
Boaventura de Sousa
Santos urges that
sociological research from
the northern hemisphere be
revised to take account of
other societies to become
truly global in scope.In The Modern World-System,
Immanuel Wallerstein argues
that globalization works to the
advantage of some countries
and to the detriment of
developing nations.Ulrich Beck argues in
Risk Society that we
must develop new
strategies to deal with
the human-made
risks of globalization.Zygmunt Bauman develops
the idea of “liquid modernity”:
a state of constant social
change resulting from
advances in global mobility
and communications.The Communist
Manifesto by Karl Marx
and Friedrich Engels
forecasts the
globalization of
capitalism and calls
for all workers to unite.
Roland Robertson
assesses the effects
of globalization
on local cultures
in Globalization:
Social Theory and
Global Culture.Saskia Sassen
describes the global
importance of some
core cities, rather
than nation-states, in
The Global City.134