ABSTRACT
Globalization is the buzzword of our times. No other term has been used and abused as frequently in politics, the media and in academia. Despite that—or perhaps because of that—there exists little agreement on how to define globalization, the possible implications of globalization, how globalization manifests itself or whether globalization is a qualitatively new process. Globalization, it appears, means different things to different people. However, despite the amazing (and still growing) variety of definitions a cluster of similar ideas is identifiable:
Among the terms usually included in the definitions offered were, in order of frequency, speed and time (accelerating, rapidly developing etc.), processes and flows, space (encompassing ever greater amounts of it), and increasing integration and interconnectivity. A composite definition, therefore, might be: Globalization is an accelerating set of processes involving flows that encompass ever-greater numbers of the world’s spaces and that lead to increasing integration and interconnectivity among those spaces.
(Ritzer 2007: 1)