Anyone looking for an accessible sociological approach the study of globalization which covers all the essential ground without attempting to simplify the arguments, would be well advised to consult this book. The focus of What is globalization? is the various ways in which "globality means that the unity of the national state and national society comes unstuck" (p.21). He is equally interested in the responses offered by sociologists and political theorists - as well as policy makers and entrepreneurs - to the problems that globalization poses. As nation-states are increasingly unable to solve the problems thrown up by globalization other actors acquire new freedoms and powers. He discusses these issues with reference to global threats - ecological disasters, poverty, and armed conflicts - a familiar theme from several of his earlier books. His understanding of globalization is far removed from the more economistic interpretation currently popular in some quarters, and in his attack on this model he aligns his work with that of Robertson and Appadurai, amongst others. In this sense, the book constitutes not only a valuable addition to the body of sociological literature which has done so much to shape the study of globalization, but also a defence of the sociological approach to understanding problems of globality. This is the book's main strength.

If the book has a weakness it is that, somewhat paradoxically, it is insufficiently sociological in its approach to some key social problems and certain aspects of globalization. To take one example, Beck puts forward the case that Europe is experiencing 'jobless growth' in which high employment is no longer necessary for economic development. This in turn creates a growing underclass excluded from citizenship. 'Capitalism is doing away with work. Unemployment is no longer a marginal fate: it affects everyone potentially, as well as the democratic way of life' (p.58). The idea of jobless growth is quite weak, sociologically speaking, as it does not, for example, take into account the ways in which the idea of full employment has changed over the past 30 years or so, consequent upon the entry of women into the labour force. Beck's idea that social exclusion can compromise democracy would appear to be based on two assumptions. First, that employment is the royal route to citizenship, and second, that the only meaningful form of citizenship is that offered by nation-states. The first assumption is contradicted by the fact that while workers rights have diminished, at the same time citizenship rights have been enhanced. Citizenship is increasingly achieved via consumption, for example, and even the unemployed are increasingly expected to act as consumers (of employment services) in order to become workers. The second assumption fails to take into account the phenomenon of post-national citizenship. There are now circuits of inclusion and networks of democratic participation which by-pass the nation-state altogether, and citizenship is being recast in terms of universal personhood rights, as enshrined in UN charters, for example.

In the final section of the book Beck turns his attention to the issue of "Europe and globalization" and sees the EU as empowering countries in their relationship with globality. Through their membership in the EU they can transform themselves from passive recipients of neo-liberal globalization to shape-giving subjects. This is indicative of Beck's overall optimism about the potential of globalization, a theme that drives many of the book's central arguments. At times the optimism is supported by faith in his sociological analysis and the ability of sociology to respond creatively to difficult issues. At other times his optimism is sustained by little more than a somewhat naively liberal approach to politics.



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