The Handbook offers students clear, informed chapters on the history of globalization and key theories that have considered its causes and consequences. Substantive sections examine military, economic, technological, social and cultural changes in globalization. The Handbook explores many negative aspects - new wars, slavery, pollution and inequality - but concludes with responses to these problems through human rights organizations, international labour law and the growth of cosmopolitanism.

Bryan S. Turner was Professor of Sociology at the University of Cambridge (1998-2005) and at the National University of Singapore (2005-2009). He is currently the Alona Evans Distinguished Visiting Professor of Sociology at Wellesley College USA and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Contemporary Muslim Societies, University of Western Sydney, Australia. He has published The New Medical Sociology (2004) and The Body and Society (2008).

Part 1: Theories and Definitions 1. Theories of Globalization: Issues and Origins Bryan Turner 2. Limiting Theory: Rethinking Approaches to Cultures of Globalization Smitha Radhakrishnan 3. Economic Theories of Globalisation Patrik Asper and Sebastian Kohl 4. Internet and Globalization Lior Gelerenter and Motti Regev 5. Anti-globalization Movements:from Critiques to Alternatives Thomas Mertes 6. History and Hegemony.The United States and Globalization Jan Nederveen Peterse 7. Vulnerability and Globalization: the Social Impact Peadar Kirby Part 2: Substantive Issues 8. Transformations of the World's Population: the Demographic Revolution John McInnes and Julio Perez Dias 9. All That is Modern Freezes Again:Migration History, Globalization and the Politics of Newness Adam McKeown 10. Climate Change, Globalization and Carbonization Ronnie D. Lipschutz and Felicia Allegra Peck 11. Infectious Disease and Globalization Susan Kippax and Niamh Stephenson 12. Globalization, Disasters and Disaster Response Habib Khonderker 13. The Globalization of Crime Robert Winslow and Virginia Winslow 14. Religion out of Place? Globalization of Religious Fundamentalism Peter Beyer 15. Globalization and Indigenous Peoples: New Old Patterns Colin Samson and Carlos Gigoux 16. Genocide in the Global Age Martin Shaw 17. Global Elites Jan Pakulski 18. Globalization, Ethnic Conflict and Nationalism Daniele Conversi 19. The Global Drive to Commodify Pensions Robin Blackburn Part 3: New Institutions and Cultures 20. Popular Culture, Fans and Globalization Cornel Sandvoss 21.Film and Globalization: from Hollywood to Bollywood Stephen Teo 22. Global Cities Chris Hudson 23. Crossing Divides: Consumption and Globalization in History Frank Trentman 24. Pluralism, Globalization and the Modernization of Gender and Sexual Relations in Asia Michael Peletz 25. Globalization and Food: the Dialectics of Globality and Locality David Inglis 26. Borders, Passports and the Global Mobility Mark Salter 27. Globalization of Space: from the Global to the Galactic Peter Dickens and James Ormond 28. Globalization and Americanization Stephen Mennell Part 4: Critical Solutions 29. Globalization and Labour. Putting the ILO in its Places Anthony Woodiwiss 30. Globalisation of Human Rights Thomas Cushman 31. Global civil Society and the World Social Forum Kay Anantram, Christopher Chase Dunn, Ellen Reese 32. Muslim Cosmopolitanism: Contemporary Practice and Social Theory Humeira Iqtidar 33. New Cosmopolitanism in the Social Sciences Ulrich Beck and Nathan Sznaider 34. Globalization and its Possible Futures Bryan S. Turner