Stories of Globalization
Transnational Corporations, Resistance, and the State in the Global Era
272 pages | 6 x 9 | 2008
ISBN 978-0-271-03388-4 | cloth: $70.00 sh
Paperback edition is not available
Rural Studies Series
The economic and social outcomes of mid-twentieth-century Fordist capitalism were characterized by a decrease in the significance of distance and a shift in the dynamic of time. This "time-space compression" is one of the defining components of contemporary globalization. In their latest collaboration, Alessandro Bonanno and Douglas Constance provide an in-depth analysis of the origins and nature of globalization using the context of the agro-food sector, one of the most globalized socioeconomic sectors in the world.
Breaking from widely used methodologies in the study of globalization, Bonanno and Constance argue that the shifting dynamic of space and time has created a new capitalism that is qualitatively different from capitalism inspired by patterns of international relations established throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The book provides an extensive and original review of existing literature and is centered on eight specific case studies. Through the analysis of these "stories of globalization," the authors examine how the origins of and interactions between transnational corporations, groups that resist these organizations, and the state have given birth to a contemporary understanding of globalization. They use this new understanding to analyze globalization as a contested terrain in which the power of transnational corporations is affected by mounting opposition and internal contradictions.
Alessandro Bonanno is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Sam Houston State University.
Douglas H. Constance is Associate Professor of Sociology at Sam Houston State University.
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
1 Globalization of the Economy and Society: Salient Interpretations
2 Environmentalism, Industry Restructuring, and Global Regulation: The Tuna-Dolphin Controversy
3 Transnational Corporations and Their Power over the State: The Case of Ferruzzi
4 Corporate Power and the Free Global Market: The Lysine Price-Fixing Case of ADM
5 Globalization and Resistance from Below: The Case of Industrial Chicken Production in Southeast Texas
6 TNCs' Colonization of the Local and Resistance: Mega Hog Farms in the Texas Panhandle
7 Old and New Social Movements in the Global Era: The Case of Maxxam and the Headwaters Forest Redwoods
8 NGOs Under Globalization: The Marine Stewardship Council
9 Challenging the Globalization Project: The Collapse of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment
Conclusion
References
Index