Global Shift, Third Edition: Transforming the World Economy [Paperback]

Peter Dicken (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572303034 | ISBN-13: 978-1572303034 | Publication Date: March 20, 1998 | Edition: Third Edition

The wholly rewritten third edition of this widely acclaimed text continues to offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date description of how the global economy works today. Moving beyond globalization hype, Dicken carefully introduces students to the economic, political, and technological processes that are creating global shifts in economic activity and affecting local communities in highly uneven ways. Like the previous editions, the book focuses on the
interrelated actions of transnational corporations (imbedded within intricate business networks) and states (which act as containers, regulators, and competitors) within a volatile technological environment. Several entirely new chapters are included, and all chapters are revised to reflect the latest available data and theoretical debates. Of special utility are detailed case studies of key global industries and more than 200 fully updated figures and tables.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Reflecting the many ways our understanding of globalization has changed and become more sophisticated in recent years, the third edition of Global Shift, like its predecessors, is an invaluable text for both large undergraduate classes and advanced graduate seminars. It takes us beyond pat answers to provide a rich set of interdisciplinary tools and analytical paradigms that help us get a handle on the complex causal forces at work, as well as the vexing tradeoffs concerning globalization's costs and benefits. No other book on the market contains as much information and clear-headed thinking about the global economy." --Gary Gereffi, Department of Sociology, Duke University

"A first-rate and eminently readable work, with a unique blend of empirical and conceptual material and an analytical depth rarely achieved in textbooks. The third edition of Global Shift continues to be one of the most useful, interesting, and readable texts in the field of economic geography. I thoroughly recommend it both to students of geography and to readers in other disciplines who are interested in seeing what contemporary economic geography is really all about." --John Holmes, Department of Geography, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada

About the Author

Peter Dicken is Professor of Economic Geography, University of Manchester, UK. He has held visiting positions at universities and business schools in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: The Guilford Press; Third Edition edition (March 20, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572303034
• ISBN-13: 978-1572303034
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 6.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,350,958 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Attempting to De-Mystify Globalization, June 2, 2000

By 

Gregory J. Thompson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Global Shift, Third Edition: Transforming the World Economy (Paperback)

Global Shift is an ambitious look at the changing world geography through the lens of the economic geographer. The book is divided into four major sections that allow for a detailed exploration of the various arenas that Peter Dicken emphasizes. The text is wrought with details that make it occasionally dense to the non-economist or geographer but one of the most compelling elements of the text is the fact that in an ever-changing global civilization the text is applicable to many different academic disciplines. It provides an important background for understanding the process of globalization in its many manifestations. Ultimately the text comes back time and again to the idea that transnational corporations and political states inside a volatile world of ever-changing technology dominate the globalization processes. Although the text focuses on the idea that the economic world is global and transnational corporations are driving the globalization, Dicken states that the idea of a faceless/placeless corporation is really not an accurate description of what is occurring. I was reminded of Tip O'Neil's famous statement that all politics is local. In much the same way Dicken emphasizes that regardless of the multi-national face of corporations there is an important local element that makes the corporation more accessible than one might think. Another important element of the work is the idea that much of what is occurring is not new. There have been tends in multinationals for years and Dicken does a good job of historicizing these ideas before he discusses the current situation. Throughout the book Dicken emphasizes the three important factors of his argument. First, that there are new centers of production and power around the world. Secondly, that there is an emergence of new global finance dominated by transnational corporations. Finally, that technology, the center of industrialization is changing at a rapid pace that creates more and more flux in the global markets. The book is dense with facts, figures, charts and graphs, but its detail in numbers is immediately useful in looking at the other texts related to this subject. This text is less focused on the cultural ramifications of its observations but to understand fully the cultural context of the globalization process we must first understand the economic processes in play.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book on Globalization, December 12, 2000

By 

Tim Hundsdorfer (Boulder, CO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Global Shift, Third Edition: Transforming the World Economy (Paperback)

In light of the other reviews of this book, I am inclined to agree that this is a heady, academic look at globalization. If globalization to you means Mitsubishi cutting down rain forests or Nike exploiting workers, this book may not be for you. It is, as has been pointed out, a textbook and it is one that will challenge your view of globalization. Having come to the book as an opponent of globalization, this book awakened me to the complexity of the problems raised by a rapidly globalizing economy. As a result, I was forced to re-examine my opposition and hone my arguments against globalization. This unbiased, empirical approach makes the book highly recommended for those interested in putting forth the best possible argmuments about the global economy. It is, however, highly academic and not necessarily for most activists.