Globalization and the Evolving World Society

The societies of the present world are experiencing many turbulent changes. New forces of change and modernization are driving people, business and cultures across borders. The world has become a home to a new generation of homo sapiens who are curious about others but, at the same time, cherish to preserve their own cultures. What is the nature of this evolving world society? Is the world driving toward a new global civilization—an "end of history"— or an inevitable civilizational clash? The present volume has brought together leading scholars in the field to examine the concept of globalization, deliberate on the character of its multifaceted nature and expressions, and delineate its impact on the emerging world economy, politics, culture, and science. A number of substantive issues such as the emergence of new global economic inequality, culture and the role of the trans-nationals, nature of the emerging global environmental regimes, rise of the NICs, and the conflicting role of the nation-states in the face of the advancing forces of globalization are addressed. It is contended that globalization should be perceived neither as an unbounded economic progress nor as an expansion of western domination. Globalization is, rather, defined as a new development strategy--a process of change that can be planned, guided, and controlled. For national political and business leaders of the world, the volume provides a blueprint of the emerging areas of policy concerns and guidance. For the world of social science, it presents a road-map of the emerging intellectual issues and challenges.Contributors are Alessandro Bonanno, Stephen W.K. Chiu, Douglas Constance, Richard J. Estes, R. Scott Frey, Archibald O. Haller, George A. Miller, Proshanta K. Nandi, Winifred R. Poster, J. Timmons Roberts, Shahid M. Shahidullah, Bam Dev Sharda, and Alvin Y. So.

Proshanta K. Nandi is Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois at Springfield. A Fulbright Scholar, he received his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota. Author of the book "Quality of Life ofAsian Americans", Nandi has published numerous articles in national and international journals. His research interests include quality of life, Third World, racial and ethnic minorities, and conflict resolution. Shahid M Shahidullah is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Virginia State University, Virginia, USA. He received his doctoral in Sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. His research has been published in a number of edited books and journals. His book Capacity-Building in Science and Technology in the Third World was published by Westview Press in 1991.