The Sociology Book

166

DIFFERENT SOCIETIES

A P P R O P R I A T E T H E

MATERIALS OF

MODERNITY

DIFFERENTLY

A R J U N A P P A D U R A I ( 1 9 4 9 – )

T

he term “globalization” has

become associated with

the spread of free-market

capitalism and the development

of borderless economies—the idea

of a global trading village. In a

sociological context, however,

globalization is not just an

economic, but a cultural, social,

and ideological phenomenon.

Much debate among cultural

theorists has addressed the issue

of whether globalization necessarily

means that the world will become

more homogenous—moving toward

a “one-world” culture—or whether

reactions to the forces of

globalization will reinforce diversity

in language, culture, and ethnicity.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Globalization and

modernity

KEY DATES

1963 Jacques Derrida

introduces the concept of

“différance” (difference), which

later informs ideas about

cultural heterogeneity.

1983 British social thinker

Benedict Anderson says

that groupings based on the

perceptions of their members

rather than direct interaction

are “imagined communities.”

1991 Economic liberalization

opens India to globalizing

forces as the country tries to

integrate into the global order.

2008 Postcolonial studies

thinker Richard Brock applies

Appadurai’s notion of “scapes”

to critically consider the

cultural construction of the

HIV/AIDS pandemic.