Culture Clues

Title:Runaway world - how globalization is reshaping our lives
Author:Anthony Giddens
Publisher:Routledge

Anthony Giddens, professor of sociology, is Director of the London School of Economics. And he is the author or editor of more than 30 books. His books usually deal with changes in society - and take a sociological as well as political point of view.

Giddens gives an analytic overview of recent world wide developments which have come with globalization. He highlights them in the chapters: "risk", "tradition", "family" and "democracy". The most important danger, for industrial and developing countries alike, he says, lie in failed or collapsing states (which e.g. facilitate terrorism). He also clears up commonplaces and misunderstandings about globalization: for example, the power which (a) national super power(s) can have is much exaggerated, also it is exaggerated how much power multinational corporations can have . Instead, the world is polycentric and complex.

He makes the point that globalization needs to be both: embraced and managed . Globalization shall not merely consist in the opening of markets to free trade. The opening needs to be accompanied by political and social processes. He pays much attention to the ever increasing role of media - and the consequent power of public oppinion, which , for example have brought about the collapse of the communist block, as well as they control misuse of power of multinational corporations. His major pledge is the one for institutional democratic reform, which is needed in developing countries as well as in industrial countries, mainly in the shape of transnational structures.

Concerning culture, his point is: Western and more specifically American cultural influence is visible everywhere - in films, television, popular music and other areas. Cultural standardization is an intrinsic part of this process. Yet all this is a relatively superficial cultural veneer. A more profound effect of globalization is to produce greater local cultural diversity, not homogeneity.

Giddens writes in a non-academic, easy to read and elegant style. His art consists in "hitting the nail on the head", by sharply analysing and summarizing complex developments and situations, while keeping a truely global perspective. He is not the impartial observer, but takes concrete standpoints, e.g. when it comes to decide between a cosmopolitan or fundamentalist attitude towards globalization, as well as he clearly highlights the need for more and more powerful transnational democratic institutions.

The book is a small masterpiece. Giddens is able to leave aside decades-old clichés about viewing the world, sharply understands globalization's implications, especially with regards to the changed enviroment of medial omnipresence. His recommendations are innovative, yet realistic.