Geographies of Globalization

A Critical Introduction

Herod, Andrew

Critical Introductions to Geography

1. Edition December 2008
296 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd

ISBN: 978-1-4051-1091-4

John Wiley & Sons

Short Description

Challenging such neoliberal assumptions as the "death of distance" and suggestions that geography no longer matters within a shrinking globe, Geographies of Globalization is a critical introduction to the concepts and realities surrounding what has become the leitmotif of our contemporary world. Exploring a wide range of issues, from the integration of the world economy to how contemporary processes are shaped by nation-states, and how workers are organizing transnationally in response to ongoing transformations in the planet's economic geography, this book illuminates the many, often contradictory, facets of globalization.

Further versions

Challenging such neoliberal assumptions as the 'death of distance' and suggestions that geography no longer matters within a shrinking globe, Geographies of Globalization is a critical introduction to the concepts and realities surrounding what has become the leitmotif of our contemporary world.

The book shows that whatever else they may be, the contemporary processes that are impacting on the world economy and which are variously represented as 'globalization' and/or 'internationalization' are fundamentally geographical processes, for they are tying the planet together in new and different ways.

Exploring a wide range of issues, from the integration of the world economy to how contemporary processes are shaping and shaped by nation-states and how workers are organizing transnationally in response to on-going transformations in the planet's economic geography, Geographies of Globalization illuminates the many, often contradictory, facets of globalization.

List of Figures.

List of Tables.

Preface.

A Note on Terminology, Naming, and the Calculation of Historical Monetary Values.

List of Abbreviations.

1. Introduction.

2. Envisioning Global Visions.

3. Interpreting Globalization.

4. Talking Globalization.

5. Globalizing Empires.

6. Manufacturing Globalization.

7. Governing Globalization.

8. Globalizing Labor.

9. Conclusion.

References.

Index

"Part of the 'Critical Introductions to Geography' series, this text is intended for 'upper-level undergraduates and graduate students' (p x) to help them 'explore the debate around how the geography of the world economy is being transformed by contemporary processes' (p. ix) . . . On completing these chapters, a good student will have derived an acute sense of both the contested complexity of globalization and its importance as a political tool for promoting a professed 'inevitable' change." (Area, 2011)

"Herod presents in a concise manner a number of critical perspectives on globalization in a way that makes them easily accessible without dumbing them down." (CHOICE, October 2009)

"An important introduction to the debates about the geography of globalization. Critical but never shrill, the book works unerringly to expose and render intelligible the intellectual and practical pressure points that are the result of the multiple processes of globalization. As good a starting point as any you'll find."
Nigel Thrift, University of Warwick

"Writing for an upper level undergraduate readership, Andrew Herod has produced a challenging critical interpretation of geographies of globalization that is both historically informed and geographically sensitive."
Peter Dicken, University of Manchester

Andrew Herod is Professor of Geography, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs, and Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, at the University of Georgia, USA. He has written widely on issues of globalization and labour politics. His books include The Dirty Work of Neoliberalism: Cleaners in the Global Economy (with Luis Aguiar) (Blackwell, 2006), Geographies of Power: Placing Scale (with Melissa Wright) (Blackwell, 2002), Labor Geographies: Workers and the Landscapes of Capitalism (2001), Organizing the Landscape: Geographical Perspectives on Labor Unionism (1998), and An Unruly World? Globalization, Governance and Geography (with Gearóid Ó Tuathail, and Susan Roberts) (1998). He is also an elected official, being a member of the government of Athens-Clarke County, Georgia.

A. Herod, University of Georgia, USA