APPROACHES TO

THE STUDY OF MANFRED B. STEGER

INTRODUCTION
EVEN AFTER TWO DECADES OF
INTENSE SCHOLARLY SCRUTINY,
‘GLOBALIZATION’ HAS REMAINED A
CONTESTED AND SLIPPERY CONCEPT.
INSPITE OF THE REMARKABLE
PROLIFERATION OF RESEARCH
PROGRAMMES FOR THE STUDY OF
GLOBALIZATION, THERE ARE MANY
DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO THE
STUDY OF GLOBALIZATION.
INTRODUCTION
SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE SLF-
CONSCIOUS ACADEMIC INQUIRIES
INTO MULTIPLE PROCESSES OF
GLOBSLIZATION IN THE EARLY
1990s, ACADEMICS HAVE REMAINED
DIVIDED IN THE UTILITY OF
VARIOUS METHODOLOGICAL
APPROACHES, THE VALUE OF
INTRODUCTION
THE EXTENT, IMPACT AND DIRECTION OF
GLOBALIZATION, AND OF COURSE, ITS
NORMATIVE IMPLICATIONS. THE FAILURE
TO ARRIVE AT A BROAD SCHOLARLY
CONSENSUS ON THE SUBJECT, BUT ALSO
REFLECTS THE RETREAT FROM
GENERALIZING INITIATED IN THE 1980s
BY THE INFLUENTIAL
‘PROCONSTRUCTIONALIST TURN’ AWAY
FROM ‘GRAND NARRATIVES’.
INTRODUCTION
AS FREDRIC JAMESON (1998) ASTUTELY
POINTS OUT, THERE SEEMS TO BE UTILITY
IN FORCING SUCH A COMPLEX SET OF
SOCIAL FORCES AS GLOBALIZATION INTO
A SINGLE ANALYTIC FRAMWORK. IT
SEEMS TO MAKE MORE SENSE TO
VARIOUS APPROACHES TO
GLOBALIZATION BY LINKING THEM TO
THE DEBATES ON THE SUBECT THAT HAVE
BEEN TAKING PLACE INTO TWO
SEPARATE BUT RELATED ARENA.
INTRODUCTION
MANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE
ACADEMIC DEBATE RESIDE AND TEACH IN
THE WEALTHY COUNTRIES LIKE UNITED
STATES AND UNITED KINDOM.
ALTHOUGH THEY SHARE A COMMON
INTELLECTUAL FRAMEWORK, THESE
SCHOLARS HOLD RADICALLY DIFFERENT
VIEWS ON THE DEFINITION OF
GLOBALIZATION, ITS SCALE,
CHRONOLOGY , POLICY AOUTCOME AND
IMPACT.
 PART OF THE REASON WHY THERE
INTRODUCTION
IS SO MUCH DISAGREEMENT HAS
TO DO WITH THE FACT THAT
GLOBALIZATIION ITSELF IS A
FRAGMETED, INCOMPLETE,
UNEVEN, AND CONTRADICTORY
SET OF SOCIAL PROCESSES.
INTRODUCTION
ROSENAU(2003) HAS DEFINED
GLOBALIZATION IN TERMS OF THAT
HE CALLES ‘ FRAGMEGRATIVE
DYNAMICS’ TO UNDERSCORE THE
‘FRAGMENTATION, AMBIGUITIES,
COMPLEXITIES AND UNCERTAINTIES
THAT HAVE REPLACED THAT
REGULARITIES OF PRIOR EPOCHS’.
INTRODUCTION
ROSCOW(2000) POINTED OUT THAT
MANY RESEARCHERS APPROACH
GLOBALIZATION AS IF THEY WERE
DEALING WITH A PROCESS OR AN
OBJECT WITHOUT A MEANING OF
ITS OWN PRIOR OR ITS
CONSTITUTION AS A CONCEPTUAL
TERRITORY.
 MOREOVER, SINCE IT FALLS OUTSIDE
INTRODUCTION
THE BOUNDARIES OF ESTABLISHED
ACADEMIC DESCIPLINE, THE STUDY
OF GLOBALIZATION HAVE INVITED
ARMIES OF SOCIAL ARMIES,
SCHOLARS IN HUMANITIES, AND EVEN
NATURAL SCIENTIST TO LEAVE THE
MARK ON AN INTELLECTUAL TERM,
TERRA INCOGNITA (AN UNEXPLORED
COUNTRY OR FIELD OF KNOWLEDGE).
 VARIOUS SCHOLARS HAVE
INTRODUCTION
APPROACHED THE CONCEPT OF
GLOBAIZATION BY ANALYZING AND
DESCRIBING A VARIETY OF CHANGING
ECONOMIC, POLITICAL, AND CULTURAL
PROCESSES THAT ARE ALLEGED TO
HAVE ACCELERATED SINCE THE 1970s.
NO GENERAL ACCEPTED DEFINITION OF
GLOBALIZATION HAS EMERGED EXCEPT
FOR THE BROAD DESCRIPTION AS
 ‘INCREASING GLOBAL
INTRODUCTION
INTERCONNECTEDNESS’, ‘THE
EXPANSION AND INTENSIFICATION
OF SOCIAL RELATIONS ACROSS
WORLD- TIME AND WORLD- SPACE’,
‘A COMPLEX RANGE OF PROCESSES
DRIVEN BY A MIXTURE OF SWIFT
AND RELATIVELY UNIMPEDED FLOW
OF CAPITAL, PEOPLE, AND IDEAS
ACROSS NATION BOARDERS.
 A NUMBER OF RESEARCHERS OBJECT
INTRODUCTION
TO THOSE KINDS OF
CHARACTERIZATIONS, SOME GONG
SO FAR AS TO DENY THE EXISTENCE
OF GLOBALIZATION ALTOGETHER.
AND YET, THE LAST FEW YEARS HAVE
ALSO BEEN SOME EMERGING AREAS
OF CONSENSUS AS WELL AS THE NEW
TRANSDISCIPLINARY FIELD OF
GLOBAL STUDIES.
 GLOBALIZATION
AS ‘GLOBALONEY’
GLOBALIZATION AS
GLOBALONEY NOUN
:(CHIEFLY US) SILLY, NONSENSICAL OR
ABSURD IDEAS OR TALK ON GLOBAL ISSUES.
ORIGIN:
COINED IN 1943 BY CLARE BOOTHE LUCE TO 
DISPARAGE VICE PRESIDENT HENRY
WALLACE'S RECOMMENDATION THAT
AIRLINES OF THE WORLD BE GIVEN FREE
ACCESS TO U.S. AIRPORTS. BLEND OF 
GLOBAL AND BALONEY
GLOBALIZATION AS
A SMALL AND RAPID DECREASING
NUMBER OF SCHOLARS CONTEND
THAT EXISTING ACCOUNTS OF
GLOBALIZATION IS INCORRECT,
IMPRECISE, OR EXAGGERATED.
HENCE, THEY SUSPECTED THAT SUCH
GENERAL OBSERVATION OFTEN
AMOUNT TO LITTLE MORE THAN
‘GLOBALONEY. (HELD,
MCGREW,ROSENBERG, VESETH)
GLOBALIZATION AS
THE ARGUMENTS OF THESE GLOBALIZATION
CRITICS FALL INTO THREE BOAD
CATEGORIES:
THE FIRST GROUP DISPUTE THE
USEFULLNESS OF GLOBALIZATION AS
SUFFICIENTLY PRECISE ANALYTIC CONCEPT.
THE SECOND GROUP POINT TO THE LIMITED
NATURE OF GLOBALIZING PROCESSES,
EMPHASIZING THAT THE WORLD IS NOT
NEARLY AS INTEGRATED AS MANY
GLOBALIZATION PROPONENTS BELIEVE.
GLOBALIZATION AS
THE THIRD GROUP OF CRITICS
DESPUTES THE NOVELTY OF PROCESS
WHILE ACKNOWLEDGING THE
EXISTENCE OF MODERATE
GLOBALIZING TENDENCIES.
THEY ARGUE THAT THOSE WHO
REFER TO GLOBALIZATION AS A
RECENT PROCESS MISS THE BIGGER
PICTURE AND FALL PREY TO THEIR
NARROW HISTORICSL FRAMEWORK.
XX END OF
REPORT XX