Summary

Now in a fully revised and updated edition, this seminal text asks if there is cultural life after the "clash of civilizations" and global McDonaldization. Internationally award-winning author Jan Nederveen Pieterse argues that what is taking place is the formation of a global melange, a culture of hybridization. From this perspective on globalization, conflict may be mitigated and identity preserved, albeit transformed. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of hybridization through a series of innovative conceptual tables that are bolstered by textual analysis and compelling examples from around the world. In a new chapter, the author explores East-West hybridities the idea that globalization is a process of braiding rather than simply a diffusion from developed to developing countries. This historically deep and geographically wide approach to globalization is essential reading as we face the increasing spread of conflicts bred by cultural misunderstanding."