Modernities, Class, and the Contradictions of the Globalization presents an anthropological perspective on the various strains and disruptions caused by modern global systems.

"A compelling essay on the contemporary human condition." William D. Coleman, Director of the Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University "An unusually perceptive and balanced appraisal of the globalization hype and its relation to the reality of global capitalism." Immanuel Wallerstein, Yale University In his provocative new book Arif Dirlik argues that the present represents not the beginning of globalization, but its end. We are instead in a new era in the unfolding of capitalism -- "global modernity". The fall of communism in the 1980s generated culturally informed counter-claims to modernity. Globalization has fragmented our understanding of what is "modern". Dirlik's "global modernity" is a concept that enables us to distinguish the present from its Eurocentric past, while recognizing the crucial importance of that past in shaping the present.

This important study offers a comprehensive analysis-cum-critique of the phenomenon of globalization and links the criticism to the inherent contradictions of modernity. It represents an effort to reverse a dangerous, and possible destructive tide in human existence. Dr. Segesvary's work links the phenomenon of globalization to the increasing importance of inter-civilizational relations - these latter representing the powerful counter-current to the globalizing trend.

This book has examined some of the pressing issues and challenges related to modernity, modernization, and globalization of the 21st century. The authors of this book are a distinguished group of social scientists from America's academia, many of whom are by-cultural and educationally trained both in the East and the West. The book has used historical and comparative perspectives and many extant sources of primary data. The authors have addressed many macro-issues such as modernity and church-state separation, America's historical role in spreading global modernity, the global expansion of democracy, the rise of a global middle class, the advent of global digital connectivity, and the recent rise of right-wing political parties in the global political landscape. The authors also examined many micro-issues such as modernization and women empowerment in India and Nigeria, the growth of a unique political culture of Islam and modernism in Sierra Leone, the problem of transition to emancipative values in the post-socialist countries of Central and Easter Europe, rise in religious hostilities in South Asia, need for modernization in dealing with minority females in America's criminal justice system, and modernity and the evolution of the rights of the disabled in America. The empirical and country studies largely support the theme of the book that modernity is a cultural and civilizational model. The global modernity has been progressing across world societies for more than two hundred years. It has been particularly remarkably advancing since the second half of the twentieth century. The world capitalist economy has become more global, world democracy has expanded, the global middle class has vastly grown, women's economic and political empowerments have widened, and global digital connectivity has increased. These social and economic transformations are far more fundamental for the future progress of democracy and global modernity. The further spread of global modernity is inevitable and irreversible. The present right-wing ideologies of nativism, localism, nationalism, fundamentalism, and divisiveness in the global political trajectory are transient and temporal peculiarities.

The last decade has witnessed a revival of interest in the problems of modernity and modernization. In particular, three major processes have emerged as objects of debate: " The transformations of capitalism manifested in globalization and the unfolding of post-industrial society " The rapid and strong economic development of countries outside the West " The political and economic transformations in the post-Soviet countries of Eastern Europe

′Robotham offers here a clear-headed exposé of the limits of classical liberalism in the face of world production today. His theme is both urgent and iconoclastic. There is an unusual clarity about the exposition and a drive that comes from passionate engagement combined with long experience, reading and reflection′ - Keith Hart, Goldsmiths College, London In Culture, Society and Economy, Don Robotham examines the failure of recent social theory to grasp the problems of globalization and the emergence of corporate monopoly capital, and sets out his own argument for a radical solution. He argues that the neglect of economics by both cultural studies and social theory has weakened the ability to develop viable alternatives to present day capitalist globalization. With deep awareness of, and reference to, current events and contemporary trends, the author presents a detailed critique of: - cultural studies, in particular Stuart Hall and Paul Gilroy; - Giddens′ theory of ′risk society′; - Scott Lash and John Urry′s ′economies of signs and space′; - Manuel Castells′ theory of ′network society′. The final chapters make a unique argument that the solution to the problems of globalization lies in more globalization rather than adopting an anti-globalization or ′localization′ position. Don Robotham proposes more effective centralized institutions for governing the world economy, in other words - world government.