We are surrounded by globalizing developments: the emergence of the global communications industry; the growth of multinational enterprises; the influence of global financial markets; global warming; and international action on human rights. These have brought the idea of a global society into prominence. We now recognise that the constraints of geography are shrinking and that the world is becoming a single place. In this crisp and incisive book, Malcolm Waters provides a much needed guide to the concept in social theory and the social, economic and political consequences.