Globalization has come to be regarded, over the past two decades, as a major feature of contemporary life. From global environmental sustainability to the global financial crisis, the internet to global celebrities, global epidemics to global cultural events like the World Cup, and from global terrorism to questions of human rights, headlines and conversations are full of globe-talk. In the period since the first edition of this book appeared in 1998, global issues, institutions and events have continued to dominate discussion on the direction of social change, the prospects for economic development, human welfare and social justice, the fate of the planet, and the values on which social life should be based. The purpose of this new edition is not simply to recognize these continuities, but also to identify what has changed since 1998, and to explain why understandings of globalization remain so controversial and contested.