Introduction

‘Globalisation’ – at the start of the twenty-first century this term, with its diverse meanings, has become common in much social science and in the mass media. Sometimes it refers to the compression of time and space, typified by the increased velocity at which money flows throughout the world financial system or the speed at which news travels. Very often, it refers to the diffusion to each and every continent, country and seemingly, village, of western cultural styles – T-shirts, jeans, basketball caps, and to an extent, popular music and film. Sometimes it is the subject of detailed historical investigation, with consequent doubts about whether, say, some economies are more integrated into the world economy today than they were a century ago. Quite often, the idea fulfils an ideological function. For this it is well suited. It is invoked to justify both why those who are already rich have to be paid more and to justify why workers cannot be.