Page 69 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

Politics in a Small World 55

may itself be simplified and rationalized by branding as, for example, in
the case of the Fairtrade mark in the UK, which denotes production and
marketing that gives a reasonable return to producers (Lury, 2004 : 138).
The cultural politics of branding is developing, but it undoubtedly needs
organization as part of social movement politics if it is to realize its poten-
tial to reform global capitalism (Bennett, 2004 ).

Globalization a s m odernization

An understanding of cultural politics as intrinsic to social life is much
more highly developed in the sociology of refl exivity, the main alternative
to Marxism as a way of theorizing globalization from a starting point
within the terms of traditional sociology. Anthony Giddens and Ulrich
Beck advocate a multi - causal explanation of globalization in which it is
seen as a consequence of modernity, rather than the mono - causal account
of Marxists in which capitalism is presented as its driving force (McGrew,
1992 : 69).
Giddens (1990) sees globalization as the outcome of the dynamism of
modernity, which involves what he calls the disembedding of social rela-
tions in time - space distanciation and the reflexive appropriation of knowl-

edge. He contrasts modernity with previous epochs in which time and
space were always linked to place, to the immediate location of co - present
social actors. In modernity, time and space are “ emptied, ” abstracted
from particular social rhythms of life; they are represented by clocks and
maps which allow them to be used independently of any particular social
location. Time - space distanciation makes possible the development of
disembedding mechanisms which “ lift out ” social activity from localized
contexts, and reorganize it across time and space. There are two types
of disembedding mechanisms, according to Giddens: symbolic tokens, of
which the only one he discusses is money, used as a universal token of
exchange; and expert systems in which technical knowledge is used to
organize material and social environments: that of engineers, architects,
doctors, psychologists, and so on. Expert systems contribute to the refl ex-
ivity of modernity, to the continual monitoring of what is known, and to
the decisions that have to be made concerning how to proceed in everyday
life. In modernity, there can be no reliance on tradition, since every aspect
of life is potentially subject to reason and can only be justifi ed in the light

of this consideration. The reflexive monitoring intrinsic to human activity
is thus radicalized in modernity; social practices are continually constitu-
tively altered by the understanding social actors bring to bear on them in
their daily routines (Giddens, 1990 ).