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Globalization
and Belonging investigates the impact of globalization on four categories
of belonging: citizenship, nationhood, ethnicity and gender. Again,
it is emphasised that the issues are complex and multidimensional
and the author avoids mono-causal explanations for the dynamics
of globalization. The book offers very thorough treatments of the
four aspects of belonging and draws upon a broad range of political
science and sociological material in order to convey the complexity
of the issues, and does so in such a way as to make them user-friendly
for undergraduates. In terms of citizenship, the author concludes
that its centrality as a form of belonging is both diminished and
enhanced in the contemporary world. Traditional forms of citizenship
have given way to new ways of acquiring membership in a political
community. Likewise, neither nationalism or the nation-state have
been swept away by globalization, but people exercise national belonging
in new ways, and there is frequently a separation between nation
and state. Ethnic belonging has also been transformed by globalization,
in particular by new forms of constructing and exercising ethnic
belonging, and new modes of ethnic interactions. Gender hierarchies
have been reinforced by globalization at the same time as women
have gained new opportunities to mobilize transnationally and resist
oppression. The book will be sought out by students for its unusual
juxtaposition of subject areas: globalization and gender for example,
and for its comprehensive coverage of the subject matter and the
discussions of key debates in the study of globalization and identity.
The author is clearly in control of the subject matter and manages
to combine exhaustive scholarship with the ability to reach to the
heart of an issue and offer up the salient features for an undergraduate
readership.
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