Research Guides: WRPR 167: Globalization in the 21st Century (HC): Background Sources

Reading for Background

Encyclopedias and Handbooks provide basic overviews of topics as well as quick identifications of people, places, and events. These titles, like the ones listed below, are written and compiled by scholars who are experts in the field. Most of the articles and essays collected in the volumes have the added bonus of a list of recommended books and journal articles for further reading. This is a valuable starting point for your research.

Oxford Handbooks (Free access for Covid-19 period)
- This link opens in a new window
Offers rich resources in every subject area. Each Handbook provides thorough introductions to topics, critical surveys of the current state of scholarship, and thoughtful suggestions for new research questions. Enter search terms to find essays in handbooks dealing with your topic and the larger historical context.
Enter search terms to find essays in handbooks dealing with your topic.
Example: Search "(globalization OR globalisation) (poor OR inequit* OR inequalit* OR exploit*) "
Resulting essays include:
"Globalization and Inequality"
Richard B. Freeman
The Oxford Handbook of Economic Inequality (2011)
"Globalisation and the Politics of Global Health"
Matthew Sparke
The Oxford Handbook of Global Health Politics (2018)
Routledge International Handbook of Globalization Studies by Hélène Oppenheim-Gluckman
- This link opens in a new window
Publication Date: 2015-12-14
The second edition of the Routledge International Handbook of Globalization Studies offers students clear and informed chapters on the history of globalization and key theories that have considered the causes and consequences of the globalization process. There are substantive sections looking at demographic, economic, technological, social and cultural changes in globalization. There is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinary approaches with essays covering sociology, demography, economics, politics, anthropology and history.
The Handbook of Language and Globalization by Nikolas Coupland (Editor)
- This link opens in a new window
ISBN: 1444351621
Publication Date: 2011-07-05
This handbook brings together studies of language and discourse in the global era. Covers an impressive breadth of topics including tourism, language teaching, social networking, terrorism, and religion, among many others.
Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Globalization (Online) by George Ritzer
- This link opens in a new window
Publication Date: 2012
Offers over 600 articles on issues involving globalization written by scholarly experts from around the world.
See, for example, the articles:
"Cultural Globalization"
"Cultural Imperialism"
"Disneyization"
"Grobalization"