Globalization and Belonging (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society) by Michael Savage

by Mike Savage

'Globalization and Belonging's headline message - that place matters, that locality remains vital to people, is arresting' - Frank Webster, Professor of Sociology, City University, London Drawing on long-term empirical research into cultural practices, lifestyles and identities, Globalization and Belonging explores how far-reaching global changes are articulated locally.The authors address key sociological issues of stratification as analysis alongside 'cultural' issues of identity, difference, choice and lifestyle. Their original " Shows how globalisation theory conceives of the 'local'" Reveals that people have a sense of elective belonging based on where they choose to put down roots" Suggests that the feel of a place is much more strongly influenced by the values and lifestyles of those migrating to it" reinvigorates debates in urban and community studies by recovering the 'local' as an intrinsic aspect of globalisationTheoretically rigorous, the book is brought to life with direct quotations from the authors' research, and appeals to students in urban sociology, urban geography, media studies and cultural studies.

Genres: Nonfiction

Paperback Bunko

First published November 9, 2004

About the author

Mike Savage is a Professor of Sociology at the University of York.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the consequences of globalisation is that we are all becoming much more cosmopolitan. We are breaking our connections with local places and becoming citizens of the world. The internet provides us with information on any and all parts of the world and all of this information is at our fingertips. We are not tied to our physical location, we can ‘virtually’ be anywhere and, increasingly, we are. Or, at least, that is the theory. The reality is much more complicated.

This book discusses the relationship between the local and the global and the extent to which people feel part of their local community. The authors admit at the beginning that there are limits to the validity of their research – although, it is based on a substantial number of interviews with people in various locations in Manchester. Before you make snorting sounds, Manchester is actually a very interesting place to have chosen. It has a series of universities making it, I believe, the largest university town in Europe. It has a vibrant gay culture (pretty well essential for a ‘world city’ – gay people generally are free to move to places they feel comfortable in ways others often are not, and so they often live in places with vibrant arts and café and bar scenes, that is, in places at least with the possibility of being worth living in). It has a multicultural population. It has a long history that reflects the development and changes that have taken place in capitalism over the last couple of centuries. If globalisation and its impacts on our conceptions of the local can’t be tested in Manchester, where can they be?

What I thought was particularly interesting about this research was how much children (having children) was the actual catalyst for becoming part of a local community. For most other people (people without children) belonging was quite problematic. There was work and there was being at home – but feeling part of a community didn’t really figure very much in the day-to-day lives of most people. And people didn’t particularly want to have friends from work – they didn’t dislike the people they worked with, as such, but so much of life was given over to work that the idea of spending more time with those same people (and therefore also those same concerns) was too much for most people.

A lot of what I’ve been reading lately has noted a shift in ways that people like to distinguish themselves as being of a certain class. One of those ways is to have omnivore tastes in music. But what is interesting here is that these omnivore tastes are generally remarkably limited. You know, you might like both Country and Western – and even be a ‘little bit rock and roll’ – but you are probably unlikely to know anything about Asian music (well, other than ONE song from K-Pop). Just because 36% of the world’s population lives in China and India doesn’t for a second mean that our musical omnivores have ever heard any music from either place other than in waiting for a take away curry or special fried rice. Hard to really call this ‘cosmopolitan’.

I also liked that people referred to where they lived differently to different people. If they were talking to people from overseas, no matter which part of Manchester or surrounds they lived in, they would say they were from Manchester, and this is because to people overseas Manchester is a football team and therefore only has positive associations. To people from the South of England people were much more likely to say they were from Cheshire – it seems the geographical awareness of most English people is comparable to that of most Americans and saying ‘I live close to Cheshire’ is enough to throw people off the scent – Manchester having a fairly bad reputation not least caused by the collapse of the British manufacturing industry.

I really liked this book. I really liked the research too. It is one of those – okay then, everyone’s saying we are becoming more cosmopolitan, so, how would you tell? I couldn’t help coming away from this thinking that rather than us becoming more cosmopolitan, we were becoming more atomised, less connected to either the global or the local - Maggie Thatcher's there is no society quote springs to mind. Often the people shown as belonging least in particular areas where not the people who had just moved in, but rather the people who had been there for generations. The world has moved around them, but they have become anachronisms. Like I said, this book gets its hands dirty in the complexity of life – a really interesting read.