The Psychology of Globalization

Gerhard Reese is Professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Koblenz-Landau, investigating processes of social identity, collective action, social inequality, and environmental behavior in the frame of globalization. Amir Rosenmann is a research fellow at the Cultural Psychology Lab, the University of Haifa, Israel, now residing in Detroit, Michigan. His research focuses on issues of gender, social power and social identity, as those intersect with the processes of globalization and consumerism. He serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Jim Cameron is Professor of Psychology at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He is interested in social identity processes with respect to collective action, multiculturalism, well-being, and globalization.

"You have heard the old song that what the world needs now is love, apparently. What the study of globalization desperately needs now, however, is the masterpiece before us. I guarantee that, as with any book that has such a breath taking scope, you will encounter ideas and conclusions that will provoke you and some you may disagree with. I certainly did. I also guarantee that nowhere else will you find such a lucid and compact yet comprehensive treatment of the role of psychology in understanding the form of the world around us today: the world as we experience through our screens and on our streets and spend so much time arguing about. That success clearly rests on the intelligence of the observations of this brilliant writing team, people who have made important theoretical and conceptual contributions to the material they cover." --Craig McGarty, Social Sciences and Psychology, Western Sydney University"This is an essential text for anyone seeking a scholarly and comprehensive analysis of the psychology of globalization. Drawing on the explanatory power of the social identity meta-theory, each chapter addresses critical issues about the ways in which individuals, communities, nations and business interconnect to mutually reflect, and transform, one another. It addresses difficult problems, problems that need to be addressed in the 21st century but which hitherto have evaded detailed, critical analysis of the form presented here. Authoritative yet accessible, it will change the way that you think about how you live your life in the 21st century." --Emma Thomas, Flinders University, Australia"In this eloquent and stimulating book the authors skillfully tackle some of the big and burning questions of globalization: consumer culture, national belonging and immigration and climate change. They do so by teasing out in a systematic manner the interrelation between self and collective identity, attitudes and political ideologies, technological advances in communication, and contemporary forms of collective action. The book not only provides a surprisingly lucid and concise overview of main research and psychological models in question but also offers many critical insights as to how the concepts of identity and ideology matter (or fail to matter) for collective action. This book is simply a must for anyone (student, researcher, policy-maker) interested in the political psychology of contemporary global transformations!" --Danny Kaplan, Bar Ilan University, Israel, Author of “The Nation and the Promise of Friendship: Building Solidarity Through Sociability”

• Part I - Globalization and Global Concern1. Globalization and Global Concern2. Globalization, Culture, and ConsumerismPart II - Psychology of Globalization: Basic Processes3. Consumer Identities, Consumer Selfhood, and the Stability of Consumer Societies4. The Interplay Between Social Identities and Globalization5. A Political Psychology of Responses to Globalization6. Collective Action in a Global ContextPart III - Issues in Depth7. Social Identity and Responses to Global Crises8. Social Identity and the Challenges of Migration and MulticulturalismPart IV - Conclusion9. Psychology in the Nexus of Global Governance, Economies and Sustainability