Globalization and Social Movements: Islamism, Feminism, And The Global Justice Movement

by Valentine M. Moghadam

This clear and concise book examines social movements and transnational networks in the context of globalization in all its forms—economic, political, cultural, and technological alike. Deftly combining nuanced theory with rich empirical examples, leading scholar Valentine M. Moghadam focuses especially on three transnational social movements—Islamism, feminism, and global justice. Now updated to explore the European anti-austerity protests, the Arab Spring, and Occupy Wall Street, the book considers the ways in which these socio-political protests were affected especially by the role of young people and social networking media. The book also includes a new chapter on the democratic nature of social movements, or the ways in which social movements contribute to democratization at both national and global levels. Defining globalization as a complex process in which the movement of capital, peoples, organizations, movements, and ideas takes on an increasingly international form, the author shows how growing physical and electronic mobility has helped to create dynamic global social movements.

Exploring the historical roots of Islamism, feminism, and global justice, the book also shows how these movements have been stimulated by relatively recent globalization processes. Moghadam examines similarities and differences among the three movements, along with internal differentiation within each. Her argument is informed by feminist, world-systems, world polity, and social movement theories in a seamlessly integrated framework that will be essential reading for all students of globalization.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Political Science, Sociology

282 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Valentine Moghadam (born 1952) is a feminist scholar, sociologist, activist, and author, whose work focuses on women in development, globalization, feminist networks, and female employment in the Middle East.

She has taught and performed research at various institutions of higher education, most recently as Professor of Sociology and Director of International Affairs at Northeastern University. Previously she held the position of Director of the Women’s Studies Program at Purdue University, where she was also a Professor of Sociology. Prior to that appointment, Moghadam worked for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as the chief of gender equality and development.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Heather Colacurcio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for an Anthropology of Globalization course. For an introductory level course, I found this material to be a bit confusing. Moghadam focuses on a select few movements, leading to some repetition.