Is globalization making our world more equal, or less? Proponents of globalization argue that it is helping and that in a competitive world, no one can afford to discriminate except on the basis of skills. Opponents counter that globalization does nothing but provide a meritocratic patina on a consistently unequal distribution of opportunity. Yet, despite the often deafening volume of the debate, there is surprisingly little empirical work available on the extent to which the process of globalization over the past quarter century has had any effect on discrimination. Tackling this challenge, Discrimination in an Unequal World explores the relationship between discrimination and unequal outcomes in the appropriate geographical and historical context. Noting how each society tends to see its particular version of discrimination as universal and obvious, the editors expand their set of cases to include a broad variety of social relations and practices. However, since methods differ and are often designed for particular national circumstances, they set the much more ambitious and practical goal of establishing a base with which different forms of discrimination across the world can be compared. Deriving from a broad array of methods, including statistical analyses, role-playing games, and audit studies, the book draws many important lessons on the new means by which the world creates social hierarchies, the democratization of inequality, and the disappearance of traditional categories.

Is globalization making our world more equal, or less? Proponents of globalization argue that it is helping and that in a competitive world, no one can afford to discriminate except on the basis of skills. Opponents counter that globalization does nothing but provide a meritocratic patina on a consistently unequal distribution of opportunity. Yet, despite the often deafening volume of the debate, there is surprisingly little empirical work available on the extent to which the process of globalization over the past quarter century has had any effect on discrimination. Tackling this challenge, Discrimination in an Unequal World explores the relationship between discrimination and unequal outcomes in the appropriate geographical and historical context. Noting how each society tends to see its particular version of discrimination as universal and obvious, the editors expand their set of cases to include a broad variety of social relations and practices. However, since methods differ and are often designed for particular national circumstances, they set the much more ambitious and practical goal of establishing a base with which different forms of discrimination across the world can be compared. Deriving from a broad array of methods, including statistical analyses, role-playing games, and audit studies, the book draws many important lessons on the new means by which the world creates social hierarchies, the democratization of inequality, and the disappearance of traditional categories.

If social science's "cultural turn" has taught us anything, it is that knowledge is constrained by the time and place in which it is produced. In response, scholars have begun to reassess social theory from the standpoints of groups and places outside of the European context upon which most grand theory is based. Here a distinguished group of scholars reevaluates widely accepted theories of state, property, race, and economics against Latin American experiences with a two-fold purpose. They seek to deepen our understanding of Latin America and the problems it faces. And, by testing social science paradigms against a broader variety of cases, they pursue a better and truly generalizable map of the social world.

Bringing universal theory into dialogue with specific history, the contributors consider what forms Latin American variations of classical themes might take and which theories are most useful in describing Latin America. For example, the Argentinian experience reveals the limitations of neoclassical descriptions of economic development, but Charles Tilly's emphasis on the importance of war and collective action to statemaking holds up well when thoughtfully adapted to Latin American situations. Marxist structural analysis is problematic in a region where political divisions do not fully expresses class cleavages, but aspects of Karl Polanyi's socioeconomic theory cross borders with relative ease.

This fresh theoretical discussion expands the scope of Latin American studies and social theory, bringing the two into an unprecedented conversation that will benefit both. Contributors are, in addition to the editors, Jeremy Adelman, Jorge I. Dominguez, Paul Gootenberg, Alan Knight, Robert M. Levine, Claudio Lomnitz, John Markoff, Veronica Montecinos, Steven C. Topik, and J. Samuel Valenzuela."

What role does war play in political development? Our understanding of the rise of the nation-state is based heavily on the Western European experience of war. Challenging the dominance of this model, Blood and Debt looks at Latin America's much different experience as more relevant to politics today in regions as varied as the Balkans and sub-Saharan Africa.

The book's illuminating review of the relatively peaceful history of Latin America from the late eighteenth through the early twentieth centuries reveals the lack of two critical prerequisites needed for war: a political and military culture oriented toward international violence, and the state institutional capacity to carry it out. Using innovative new data such as tax receipts, naming of streets and public monuments, and conscription records, the author carefully examines how war affected the fiscal development of the state, the creation of national identity, and claims to citizenship. Rather than building nation-states and fostering democratic citizenship, he shows, war in Latin America destroyed institutions, confirmed internal divisions, and killed many without purpose or glory.

During the 1980s the Mexican regime faced a series of economic, social, and political disasters that led many to question its survival. Yet by 1992 the economy was again growing, with inflation under control and the confidence of international investors restored. Mexico was now touted as an example for regimes in Eastern Europe to emulate.

How did Carlos Salinas and his team of technocrats manage to gain political power sufficient to impose their economic model? How did they sustain their revolution from above despite the hardships these changes brought for many Mexicans? How did they stage their remarkable political comeback and create their "democracy within reason"? Why did Salinas succeed in keeping control of his revolution while Mikhail Gorbachev failed to do so in his similar effort at radical reform?

Miguel Centeno addresses these questions by analyzing three critical developments in the Mexican state: the centralization of power within the bureaucracy; the rise of a new generation of technocrats and their use of a complex system of political networks; and the dominance of a neoliberal ideology and technocratic vision that guided policy decisions and limited democratic participation. In his conclusion the author proposes some alternative scenarios for Mexico's future, including the role of NAFTA, and suggests lessons for the study of regimes undertaking similar transitions.

Of obvious interest to students of contemporary Mexico and Latin America, the book will also be very useful for those analyzing the transition to the market in other countries, the role of knowledge in public policy, and the nature of the modern state in general.