1. I. Globalization: A
Preliminary Definition
II. Bosworth & Gordon:
Key Processes and
Public Controversies
III. Empirical Debates
IV. Normative Debates
Video: Captive Audience

2. Globalization: A Preliminary Definition
“an unprecedented compression of
time and space reflected in the
tremendous intensification of social,
political, economic, and cultural
interconnections and
interdependencies on a global scale.”
Stegler, p. ix
• time-space compression
• deterritorialization and supraterritoriality

3. One way to
approach this: think
about the world
before globalization
• Distance mattered—space often measured in
time
• Territorial boundaries more or less kept
things in and out
• Society and culture had spatial referents
• Everything had its “place” (literally)

4. In a world of deterritorialization and
supraterritoriality:
•Distance becomes almost irrelevant (the end of
distance)
•Boundaries are increasingly permeable.
•Groups and cultures increasingly don’t have a
territorial basis (deterritorialization)
•A new kind of non-physical “place” is emerging
(supraterritoriality)

5. Bosworth and Gordon: A survey of
some key processes
• Expansion of international commerce
• Rising importance of private capital flows
• Increasing travel and migration
• Increased communication and interaction
between peoples

6. Bosworth and Gordon also point to some of the
key public controversies over globalization:
• The fact there are winners and losers, and societies
vary in how much they compensate the losers
• Continuing poverty: ¼ world’s population below $1 a
day; over ½ below $2 a day
• Inequality between rich and poor is rising
• Environmental concerns and conflict over global
governance
• Open borders and their effects (the piggy-back effect)

7. Frank Lechner: Empirical Debates
2. Process vs. Project
3. New Era vs. Nothing New (Globabaloney)
4. Hard vs. Soft
4. End vs. Revival of Nation State
5. Cultural Sameness vs. Difference

8. Amartya Sen: Normative Debates
(Good vs. Bad)
2. Whether globalization is a
Western curse
3. Whether globalization
fairly benefits the poor
4. Whether the institutional
infrastructure of globalization is
adequate

9. Video: Emerging Powers: India

10. “Over the past decade globalization has
been driven by technological
advances…..But globalization has also
been driven by policies and ideas…”
Bosworth & Gordon
Next time: globalization as a neoliberal
project