How adequate are our theories of globalisation for analysing theworlds we share with others? In this provocative new book,Henrietta Moore asks us to step back and re-examine in a fresh waythe interconnections normally labeled 'globalisation'.
Rather than beginning with abstract processes and flows, Moorestarts by analyzing the hopes, desires and satisfactions ofindividuals in their day-to-day lives. Drawing on a widerange of examples, from African initiation rituals to Japaneseanime, from sex in virtual worlds to Schubert songs, Moore developsa theory of the ethical imagination, exploring how ideas about thehuman subject, and its capacities for self-making and socialtransformation, form a basis for reconceptualizing the role andsignificance of culture in a global age. She shows how the ideas ofsocial analysts and ordinary people intertwine and diverge, andargues for an ethics of engagement based on an understanding of thehuman need to engage with cultural problems and seek socialchange.
This innovative and challenging book is essential reading foranyone interested in the key debates about culture andglobalization in the contemporary world.