171
Bollywood films in India represent
the assymetrical flow of culture around
the world. Despite selling more tickets
than Hollywood, they make far less
revenue from international distribution.
See also: George Ritzer 120–23 ■ Immanuel Wallerstein 144–45 ■
Roland Robertson 146–47 ■ Ulrich Beck 156–61 ■ Arjun Appadurai 166–69
LIVING IN A GLOBAL WORLD
with global cultures, such as music
genres or cuisines, blending the
global with the local to produce
new cultural products.
Held suggests globalization
is best understood as a set of
processes and changes. Cultural
dimensions include the distribution
of media products and movement of
ideas and people across societies.
Political dimensions include the
rise of international organizations,
institutions, and multinational
companies. The economic
dimensions include the expansion
of capitalism and consumerism.
Change for better or worse?
In Globalization/Anti-Globalization,
Held examines the views of
different sociologists on
globalization, organizing them
into “hyper-globalists,” “skeptics,”
and “transformationalists.”
The hyper-globalists see the
forces of globalization as powerful,
unprecedented, and as facilitating
the development of a global
civilization. Some hyper-globalists
praise globalization for driving
economic development and
spreading democracy; others are
critical of the spread of capitalism
and its social consequences.
The skeptics, by contrast,
downplay the extent to which
globalization is a new phenomenon
and reject the idea that global
integration and institutions are
undermining the power of the
nation-state. They see globalization
as marginalizing the developing
world, while at the same time
benefiting corporations based
in developed nations.
The transformationalists,
according to Held, best explain
the contradictory processes of
globalization. They argue that
boundaries between the global and
local are breaking down, and that
the human world is becoming
interconnected. They also argue
that there is no single cause
of globalization, and that the
outcomes of these processes
are not determined.
Globalization, Held suggests,
is giving rise to a new global
“architecture” comprised ofmultinational companies and
institutions, and characterized
by asymmetrical cultural and
economic flows.
The precise nature of the
emerging patterns of inequality
and prosperity brought by
globalization is not yet clear.
Importantly, however, Held sees
globalization as a dynamic process
that can be influenced: nation-
states can embrace policies and
relationships that address global
problems or risks, be they poverty,
pandemics, or environmental
damage and change. ■David Held
David Held was born in
Britain in 1951 and was
educated in Britain, France,
Germany, and the US. He
holds an MSc and a PhD
in political science from
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT).
In 1984, Held cofounded
Polity Press, the highly
influential international
publisher of social-science
and humanities books,
where he continues as
Director. He has written and
edited more than 60 books
on democracy, globalization,
global governance, and public
policy. In 2011 Held resigned
his professorial position
in political science at the
London School of Economics
to become Director of the
Institute of Global Policy at
Durham University in the UK.Key works1995 Democracy and the
Global Order
2002 Globalization/Anti-
Globalization (coauthor)
2004 Global Covenant