European inventory of
societal values of culture

Robertson - Glocalization

Robertson, R. (1995). Glocalization: Time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity. In: Featherstone, M., Lash, S., & Robertson, R. (Eds.) Global modernities, (25-44). SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN 9780803979482; eISBN 9781446250563

There is an evident tendency to think of globalization in a rather casual way as referring to very large-scale phenomena – as being, for example, the preoccupation of sociologists who are interested in big macrosociological problems, in contrast to those who have microsociological or, perhaps, local perspectives. The author considers this to be very misleading. It is part of the ‘mythology about globalization’ (Ferguson, 1992) which sees this concept as referring to developments that involve the triumph of culturally homogenizing forces over all others. This view of globalization often involves other equally doubtful attributions, such as the view that ‘bigger is better’, that locality – even history – is being obliterated and so on.