Globalization

I found this chapter of the Slack & Wise book somewhat disconnected from the other readings we had done in the past until I spent some time thinking about exactly how globalization and networking are linked. Now I think that there is a pretty strong connection, and I see why these reading were paired. First off, the Slack & Wise piece was very broad, talking about globalization in its most generic terms. I think the process described in the chapter has been going on in one form or another since the beginning of culture. In the eternal quest or society for more influence, homogeny seems to be the goal. Take for example, the Roman empire, or even Alexander the Great before then. These were forces that tried to rule the greater part of the world even without the sophisticated communications technology of today. Globalization is the process of cultures' influences spreading outward on a macro level.

The readings outside of the book were focused on identifying and describing networks and their role in cultural affairs. Similar to the idea of globalization put forth by Slack & Wise, this networking theory seems very generally crafted to describe a process happening all throughout human history. This is a bold thesis but is argued well in the Castells piece. I think that it's good to take a broad cultural and historical view on a topic that seems so novel as globalization and networking.