The sociological, economic, political, and anthropological literatures are devoting increasing
attention to globalization. This chapter discusses the various connotations of the term and
puts it in historical perspective. Existing theoretical and empirical research on globalization
is organized around five key issues or questions: Is it really happening? Does it produce
convergence? Does it undermine the authority of nation-states? Is globality different from
modernity? Is a global culture in the making? A plea is made for a comparative sociology of …