The Limits of Globalization: Cases and Arguments (International Library of Sociology)

372 Pages·1997·13.9 MB·English

by  Alan Scott

THE LIMITS OF GLOBALIZATION

In the media and in political debate we are continually reminded of the
emergence of global competition or even of a global culture. At the same
time we hear cries of alarm that such forces combined with increasingly
unrestrained and unregulated markets are destroying communities,
undermining local values and weakening the ability of nation states to
regulate their affairs and maintain a sense of common national identity. These
two views frequently convey contradictory messages. The first demands our
submission to the inexorable logic of emerging global forces; the second calls
for a renewal of political projects which can defend ‘society’ and
‘community’ against such forces. These debates have found an echo in the
increasingly influential theory of globalization.
The limits of globalization assesses the claims made by globalization theorists
from a variety of perspectives and disciplines, and through a mixture of case
studies and theoretical reflections. It asks to what extent assumptions from
the wider public debate have been absorbed into the social sciences and
whether we are not perpetuating what some refer to as the ‘rhetoric’ and
others the ‘myth’ of globalization. Using a broad selection of examples,
ranging from the struggle over the future of Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz to the
regulation of international air transport, the contributors examine the
complexity of so-called processes of globalization. They identify not merely
its ‘limits’ but also the countervailing forces which contest or channel social
and political change.
The contributions are gathered under four headings: contesting global
forces; homogenized culture or enduring diversity?; the national, the
international and the global; and theoretical reflections. Case studies cover
cultural analysis, international relations, industrial relations, and economic
and urban policy. Theoretical contributions offer an analysis of the
emergence of the concept of the globe and the global, an examination of
ethnic homogenization and fragmentation, and an analysis of the impact of
disembedded markets upon society.
Alan Scott is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of East Anglia.
INTERNATIONAL LIBRARY OF SOCIOLOGY
Founded by Karl Mannheim
Editor: John Urry
Lancaster University
THE LIMITS OF
GLOBALIZATION

Cases and arguments
Edited by Alan Scott

London and New York
First published 1997
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

© 1997 selection and editorial matter, Alan Scott;
individual chapters, the contributors.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-42622-3 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-73446-7 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-10565-X (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-10566-8 (pbk)
CONTENTS

List of figures vii
List of tables viii
Notes on contributors ix
Acknowledgements xii
1 INTRODUCTION — GLOBALIZATION: SOCIAL
PROCESS OR POLITICAL RHETORIC? 1
Alan Scott
Part I Contesting global forces
2 THE FUTURES OF BERLIN’S POTSDAMER PLATZ 25
Howard Caygill
3 THE GLOBAL COMMON: THE GLOBAL, LOCAL
AND PERSONAL; DYNAMICS OF THE WOMEN’S
PEACE MOVEMENT IN THE 1980s 55
Sasha Roseneil
Part II Homogenized culture or enduring diversity?
4 ‘ACROSS THE UNIVERSE’: THE LIMITS OF
GLOBAL POPULAR CULTURE 75
John Street
5 AN ASIAN ORIENTALISM? LIBAS AND THE
TEXTURES OF POSTCOLONIALISM 90
Rajika Jalan
6 ELVIS IN ZANZIBAR 116
Ahmed Gurnah
7 CHINESE ENTREPRENEURSHIP: CULTURE
AND ECONOMIC ACTORS 143
Julia Tao and Wai-Nang Ho
v
CONTENTS
Part III The national, the international and the global
8 GLOBALIZATION, URBAN CHANGE AND URBAN
POLICIES IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE 181
Alan Harding and Patrick Le Galès
9 AIR TRANSPORT AND GLOBALIZATION:
A SCEPTICAL VIEW 202
Hussein Kassim
10 GLOBALIZATION, THE COMPANY AND THE
WORKPLACE: SOME INTERIM EVIDENCE
FROM THE AUTO INDUSTRY IN BRITAIN 223
Paul Stewart and Philip Garrahan
11 NATIONALISM AND THE FALL OF THE USSR 238
Mike Bowker
Part IV Theoretical reflections: social theory,
cultural subjectivism and disembedded markets
12 GLOBALIZATION AS AN EMERGENT CONCEPT 257
Richard Kilminster
13 WIDER HORIZONS WITH LARGER
DETAILS: SUBJECTIVITY, ETHNICITY
AND GLOBALIZATION 284
Cesare Poppi
14 THE WORLD MARKET UNBOUND 306
Elmar Altvater and Birgit Mahnkopf
Bibliography 327
Index 350
vi
FIGURES

2.1 Views of Potsdamer Platz, 1901–1953 27
2.2 Freidrich Gilly, perspective of the monument to Fredrick the
Great, 1797 31
2.3 Karl Friedrich Schinkel’s Triumphal Arch, 1817 33
2.4 Potsdamer Platz and the remains of Schinkel’s gates, March
1946 35
2.5 Potsdamer Platz from the air, Fall 1935 36
2.6 Project Potsdamer Platz 52
5.1 ‘Ode to Velvets’ 93
5.2 ‘Something in the way they move’ 96
5.3 ‘Boom Shack A Lack!!’ 103
10.1 NMTs and working harder 232
10.2 The effect of NMTs on skill 233
10.3 The effect of NMTs on physical effort 234
10.4 The effect of NMTs on mental effort 234
10.5 The effect of NMTs on job interest 235
14.1 Mechanisms of disembedding 310
14.2 From disembedding to the external constraints of the world
market and the loss of sovereignty in economic policy 319
14.3 The complexity of the market 324

vii
TABLES

7.1 Development of private enterprises in China, 1989–93 147
7.2 Year of commencement of private enterprises 148
7.3 Start-up capital of private enterprises 148
7.4 Sources of start-up capital of private enterprises 149
7.5 Factors considered in making business decisions 150
7.6 Age of private entrepreneurs 150
7.7 Comparison between educational level of private
entrepreneurs and those in employment within the
general population 152
7.8 Occupational distribution of private entrepreneurs before
setting up their business 152
7.9 Motivation for setting up private enterprises 154
7.10 Occupational distribution of the fathers of private
entrepreneurs 155
7.11 Occupational distribution of the spouses of private
entrepreneurs 156
7.12 Occupational distribution of the children of private
entrepreneurs 157
7.13 Occupational distribution of relatives and friends of
entrepreneurs 158
7.14 Channels for management personnel to join private
enterprises 160
7.15 Main channels for the purchase of raw materials and goods
by private enterprises 162
7.16 Reasons for donations by private enterprises 163
9.1 The freedoms of the air 207
9.2 From the Chicago regime to the single European Market in
air services 214
9.3 Major partnerships of selected flag carriers 216
9.4 Major international alliances 218

viii
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Elmar Altvater is Professor of Political Science, Free University Berlin. He
has published extensively on capitalist development, state theory, development
politics, debt crises, and ecology. Recent Publications include Die Armut der
Nationen, (1987), Die Zukunft des Marktes (second edition, 1992) translated as The
Future of the Market (Verso, 1991), Der Preis des Wohlstands (1992) and, as co-
author with Birgit Mahnkopf, Die Grenzen der Globalisierung (1996).
Mike Bowker is Lecturer in Politics and International Relations, University
of East Anglia. He is author of Russian Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War
(Dartmouth, 1997), co-author of Superpower Détente: a Reappraisal (Sage, 1988)
and co-editor of From Cold War to Collapse (CUP, 1993).
Howard Caygill is Professor of Cultural History, Goldsmiths College,
University of London. He writes on philosophy and social theory, on art
and architecture, and the sociology of law. He is author of Art of Judgement
(Blackwell, 1989) and A Kant Dictionary (Blackwell, 1995), and co-editor of
The Fate of the New Nietzsche (Avebury, 1993). His latest book, Walter Benjamin:
the colour of experience, will be published by Routledge in 1998.
Philip Garrahan is Professor and Head of the School of Social, Political and
Economic Studies at the University of Northumbria at Newcastle. He was
formerly Senior Lecturer in Politics at Sunderland University and Principle
Lecturer at Teesside University. He is co-author of The Nissan Enigma
(Mansell, 1992).
Ahmed Gurnah was formally Lecturer in Sociology, Sheffield Halam
University and is currently an Educational Officer in Sheffield Education
Department. He has written widely on sociological theory as well as on
social and educational policy. He is co-author of The Uncertain Science
(Routledge, 1992) and is currently editing a book entided Culture for Social
Renewal. He has been a guest editor of Adults Learning and Language Issues.
Alan Harding is Professor of Urban Policy and Politics, European Institute
of Urban Affairs, Liverpool John Moores University. He is co-author of
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