A wide-ranging, significant contribution. - Gran Therborn, Cambridge University A lively, well-informed, and accessible guide through the dynamics and complexities of globalization. - Robert Holton, Trinity College, Dublin This is an excellent text on globalisation. It is theoretically sophisticated, critically engaging, and empirically comprehensive... perfect for courses on globalisation within sociology programmes in particular. - Andrew Kirton, Liverpool University a Do we confuse globalization for Americanization? What are the distinctive elements in the interplay of the local and the global? This book examines globalization from the perspective of both the West and the East. It considers globalization as a general social and economic process, and the challenges it presents for Western social science. The meaning of a global perspective is explored through various concrete examples: religion, migration, medicine, terrorism, global disasters, citizenship, multiculturalism, media and popular culture. Introduced with a forword from Roland Robertson, the book is brimming with novel interpretations and fresh insights that will contribute to illuminating the practical realities of globalization.