The constraints of geography are shrinking and the world is becoming a single place. Globalization and the global society are increasingly occupying the center of sociological debates. Widely discussed by journalists and a key goal for many businesses, globalization has become a buzz word in recent years. In this extensively revised and restructured new edition of "Globalization", Malcolm Waters provides a user-friendly introduction to the main arguments about the process, including a chapter on the critiques of the globalization thesis that have emerged since the first edition was published.