In Globalization & Culture Jan Nedeerveen Pieterse rejects mono-causal interpretations of globalization and approaches which attempt to cast it as a recent phenomena. Instead he emphasises the long-term historical lineage of globalization and the complex and multi-dimensional processes which have contributed to it. In doing so he draws attention to the complex and sometimes contradictory consequences of globalization: at the same time as leading towards greater interconnectedness and human integration globalization can also lead to greater inequalities and more uneven economic and cultural development. The book is an intervention in the debate on whether globalization leads to greater cultural homogeneity or cultural differentiation. The author rightly adjudges this to be a rather tired and stale orthodoxy. The book rejects both alternatives in favour of the idea of global melange or hybridization. Moreover, Pieterse argues that cultures have been hybrid all along, the full extent of which has been masked by nationalistic ideologies. The author devotes much time to countering criticisms of hybridity: for example that it is a notion which only makes sense in opposition to ideas of purity and essentialist interpretations of identity formation. The book represents the most complete and most accessible statement of arguments the author has been rehearsing for a decade or more, and students will find the book useful for the way it summarises different sociological approaches to the study of globalization, and for the imaginative and well-chosen examples with which the author supports his arguments. The book is well organized and well-written and will provide a useful resource for students interested in a general introduction to the complexities of globalization and culture, and for more advanced students who are seeking a different angle on a familiar set of problems.

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