Since the 1970s, various sociological approaches have tried to understand and conceptualize "the global," yet few of them have systematically addressed the full spectrum of social relationships. Prominent exponents of the global approach - such as world systems analysis - instead have focused on particular domains such as politics or the economy. Under the label of "world society," however, some authors have suggested alternatives to the predominant equivocation of society and the nation-state. The contributions to this volume share that objective and take their point of departure from the two most ambitious projects of a theory of world society: world polity research and systems theory, mapping out the common ground and assessing their potential to inform empirical analyses of globalization.

Since the 1970s, various sociological approaches have tried to understand and conceptualize the global, yet few of them have systematically addressed the full spectrum of social relationships. Prominent exponents of the global approach - such as world systems analysis - instead have focused on particular domains such as politics or the economy. Under the label of world society, however, some authors have suggested alternatives to the predominant equivocation of society and the nation-state. The contributions to this volume share that objective and take their point of departure from the two most ambitious projects of a theory of world society: world polity research and systems theory, mapping out the common ground shared by world polity research and systems theory and assessing their potential to inform empirical analyses of globalization.

This insightful book examines how transnational corporations respond to the challenges of anti-corporate activism and political consumerism. In prominent cases involving major corporations such as Nestle, Nike and Royal Dutch/Shell, transnational activists have successfully mobilized public opinion and consumers against alleged corporate misdemeanours. Campaigns and boycott calls can harm a corporation's image but, as this book points out, public scrutiny also gives corporations the opportunity to present themselves as responsible and accountable corporate citizens who subscribe to the very norms and values propagated by the activists. Academics, scholars and postgraduate students in international business management, organization studies, social movement studies and political sociology will find this book invaluable.

Die gesellschaftliche Entwicklung in Ostasien hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten mehrfach uberraschende Wendungen genommen. Zunachst notierten Beobachter mit Erstaunen das ostasiatische Entwicklungs-"Wunder" nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Mit bemerkenswerter Geschwindigkeit vollzogen zuerst Japan und anschliessend die "vier kleinen Tiger" Hongkong, Singapur, Sudkorea und Taiwan den Wandel zur modernen Industriegesellschaft. Auch andere Lander der Region hegten die Hoffnung, diesem Beispiel bald folgen zu koennen. Dann wurde die Region jedoch von einer Finanz- und Wahrungskrise erschuttert, die derartige Plane nachhaltig in Frage stellte. Die langfristigen Folgen dieser Entwicklung sind ungeklart. Auf der Suche nach den Ursachen versucht die vorliegende Studie, den Modernisierungsprozess in Ostasien zu rekonstruieren. Eine Reihepolitischer, wirtschaftlicher und sozio-kultureller Faktoren trugen zur erfolgreichen wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung bei. Sowohl die Erfolge als auch die Krisensymptome der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung in Ostasien mussen allerdings im Kontext weltwirtschaftlicher und geopolitischer Rahmenbedingungen gesehen werden.