REFRAMING HETEROGENEITY AS AN INHERENT OUTCOME (NOT A PRESUMED TRAIT) OF GLOBALIZATION
Journal Title: Journal of Globalization Studies - Year 2015, Vol 6, Issue 1
Abstract
The contemporary study of globalization is a product of disparate scholarship across myriad disciplines. Given the eclectic nature of such cross-disciplinary pursuits, the vital labor of critically unpacking certain fundamental analytical concepts can too often be neglected. The treatment of heterogeneity – and manifestations of individual agency – across the global landscape presents a case in point. Juxtaposing the structural determinism of hegemonic global forces with the dynamic, creative impulses of local agency presents a familiar and long-standing riddle. While this global/local paradox may not have originated with the study of globalization, its enigmatic features are made especially salient via analyses of the contemporary global era. Those framing globalization as a multi-layered process of heterogeneous particularization provide especially compelling perspectives in this regard. It is argued here, however, that proponents of global heterogeneity have become mired in circular, tautological arguments. Our aim is to re-ground such theories with an analytical-conceptual framework in which the conditions for local heterogeneity (and agency) emerge from concrete social actions and are no longer inserted as a priori premises of the theory itself. The purpose of this paper is thus two-fold. First, we examine the failed reasoning that buttresses the prevailing heterogeneous interpretations of globalization. Second, we introduce an analytical-conceptual framework that results in rationale independent of a priori premises for resolving the global/local paradox and for positing heterogeneity as an inherent outcome – and not a mere feature (or presumed trait) – of the current era of globalization. To illustrate, we ap-ply this framework to an analysis of HIV/AIDS in Mozambique.
Authors and Affiliations
David Baronov
Keywords
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