A Glocal Town : Social Change and Globalization

Beginning with a study of a suburb of Athens, this book charts the occurrence of a range of radical social changes as the locality adapts itself to processes of globalization, broadening its analysis to as to offer a theoretical account of the dynamic interaction of the local with the global wherever it occurs in (sub)urban space.

This book presents novel theoretical and methodological approach to understanding the emerging ‘glocal’ realities of (sub)urban space. Beginning with a study of a suburb of Athens, it illustrates the dynamic interaction of the local with the global, charting the occurrence of a range of radical social changes as the locality adapts itself to processes of globalization. Moving out from the Athenian context, it shows how the various traditions of suburban enclaves interact with the impact of external but omnipotent elements of the global(ized) world – for instance, in the adoption of events and practices that occur in societies across the world, such as Earth Day or International Holocaust Remembrance Day, or the use of the global calendar – as the polis becomes a cosmopolis. Through analyses of this kind, A Glocal Town advances a three-stage interpretative scheme that enables us to frame ‘glocality’ more broadly, and make sense of the global-local interaction wherever in occurs. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology, geography and urban studies with interests in globalization and its interaction with the local in (sub)urban locales.