• Introduces the major players, theories, and methodologies
• Explores the major areas of impact, including the environment, cities, outsourcing, consumerism, global media, politics, religion, and public health
• Addresses the foremost concerns of global inequality, corruption, international terrorism, war, and the future of globalization
• Wide-ranging and comprehensive, an excellent text for undergraduate and graduate students in a range of disciplines

“The stimulating essays in this remarkably comprehensive collection cover important global trends, present intriguing theoretical perspectives, and take sides in current debates on globalization. Many illustrate what Ritzer calls the “globophobic” thrust in recent work on the subject. This volume is required reading for serious students of globalization.”
Frank J. Lechner, Emory University

"This is a thoroughly collated, unique combination of encyclopaedic surveys of the major controversies that split/unite the on-going debate on the origins, dynamics and the prospects of globalization, with illuminating case studies exploring the diverse impacts of globalizing pressures on contemporary life in all parts of the planet. An exceptionally useful reference, gathering under one cover texts otherwise difficult to access and seldom considered together."
Zygmunt Bauman, University of Leeds and University of Warsaw

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. He was awarded the 2000 Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association and he has authored more than 25 books including several student textbooks. He has been a major contributor to the literature on globalization, especially in The McDonaldization of Society (4 editions, last in 2004), Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society (1995) and most recently (2004), The Globalization of Nothing (2nd edition to be published in 2007 as The Globalization of Nothing 2). He is editor of The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007).