You are here

Global Shift
Share

Global Shift
Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy

Seventh Edition
Additional resources:


December 2014 | 648 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

Global Shift is - quite simply - the definitive work on economic globalization. The extensive use of graphics, lack of jargon, and clear definition of terms has made it the standard work for the social sciences.

The Seventh Edition has been completely updated using the latest available sources. It maps the changing centres of gravity of the global economy and explains the global financial crisis. Each chapter has been extensively rewritten and new material introduced to explain the most recent empirical developments; ideas on production, distribution, consumption; and corporate governance. Global Shift provides:

  • The most comprehensive and up-to-date explanation of economic globalization available, examining the role of transnational corporations, states, labour, consumers, organizations in civil society, and the power relations between them.
  • A clear guide to how the global economy is being transformed through the operation of global production networks involving transnational corporations, states, interest groups and technology.
  • Extended discussion of problems and institutions of global governance in the context of the global economic crisis and of the role of corporate social responsibility.
  • A suite of extensive online ancillaries for both students and lecturers, including author videos, case studies, lecture notes, and free access to specially selected journal articles related to each chapter. 

There is only one definitive guide to economic globalization for the social sciences: and that's Peter Dicken's Global Shift.

 
What in the World Is Going On?
 
Part I: The Changing Contours of the Global Economy
 
The Centre of Gravity Shifts: Transforming the Geographies of the Global Economy
 
Part II: Processes of Global Shift
 
Tangled Webs: Unravelling Complexity in the Global Economy
 
Technological Change: ‘Gales of Creative Destruction’
 
Transnational Corporations: The Primary Movers and Shapers of the Global Economy
 
The State Really Does Matter
 
Part III: Winning and Losing in the Global Economy
 
The Uneasy Relationship between TNCs and States: Dynamics of Conflict and Collaboration
 
'Capturing Value' within Global Production Networks
 
'Destroying Value'? Environmental Impacts of Global Production Networks
 
Winning and Losing: Where You Live Really Matters
 
Making the World a Better Place
 
Part IV: The Picture in Different Sectors
 
'Making Holes in the Ground': The Extractive Industries
 
'We Are What We Eat': The Agro-Food Industries
 
'Fabric-ating Fashion': The Clothing Industries
 
'Wheels of Change': The Automobile Industry
 
'Making the World Go Round': Advanced Business Services
 
'Making the Connections, Moving the Goods': Logistics and Distribution Services

Supplements

Dicken Video - Introduction
Watch Peter Dicken introduce the 7th edition of Global Shift

No other book concerned with economic globalization was able to match earlier editions in either breadth or empirical richness, but this latest Global Shift 7e is a book whose time has truly come. Coined by Peter Dicken in the mid 1980s, the idea of a ‘global shift’ has now been propelled into wider circulation as the world grapples with the reality of a maturing Asian and other BRICs economies, and this latest edition is beyond authoritative in terms of its empirical depth and insight into this issue.

Andrew Jones, Professor of Economic Geography
City University London

This is the definitive account of the economic geography of globalisation. With each edition it just gets better!

Ray Hudson
University of Durham

There is no other book that so comprehensively examines the meaning, dynamic and uneven impact of economic globalisation. The analysis extended to cover the current financial crisis takes the mastery of the book to new and pertinent heights.

Ash Amin
University of Cambridge

The earlier editions of this book made an excellent contribution towards an understanding of the global business environment and challenges. The present edition takes us further towards our understanding of the role played by multinational enterprises, governments and other organizations in managing these challenges. It provides theoretical understanding of fundamental issues that we face today such as; sustainable development, poverty and inequality and highlights the problems with global governance. The book is a must read for those who want to be up-to-date with global issues and challenges and how multinationals and governments are interacting to handle these challenges.

Professor Pervez Ghauri,
King’s College London

Once again Peter Dicken seamlessly combines disciplinary perspectives to create a wonderfully comprehensive insight into the essential dynamics of the global economy. His usual array of fabulous maps, graphs, tables and frameworks brilliantly animate this, his latest and most readable edition of Global Shift.

Simon Collinson, Professor of International Business and Innovation and Dean
Birmingham Business School

Global Shift is rightly one of the most influential books examining the changing geography of globalisation and the world economy. Global in scope, and geographically nuanced, this new edition provides the kind of authoritative account of the interdependent world economy which shapes our lives that is required by those seeking to understand the complexity of changing power relations in the world today.

Adrian Smith
School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London

Given the rapid changes in the configuration of the global economy, Global Shift, Seventh Edition, will be welcomed by academicians and assigned in graduate and undergraduate classes. While retaining the strengths that have made prior editions much adopted around the world, the seventh edition has been updated to weave in such important new topics as the impact of the recent global financial crisis, the global smartphone infrastructure, climate change, corporate social responsibility, and national and international inequality. Readable case studies and excellent figures and graphs provide students with the empirical illustrations they need to understand the larger theoretical concepts. A remarkable update by the foremost economic geographer of globalization that should be on everyone's reading list.

Martin Kenney
University of California, Davis

Global Shift, Seventh Edition, continues to be a key resource for understanding the complexity of the global economy and the ongoing, often contentious negotiations among nations, corporations, and locales. In addition to clearly outlining larger institutional and structural processes, Dicken provides a wealth of detailed new empirical material to explain how the outcomes of the global economy manifest in specific contexts. The book's diverse concrete examples--such as the global production network of iPhones or corporate strategies to shield profits from taxation--are drawn directly from the headlines. An extremely valuable text for all courses on economic geography, globalization, international business, and economics.

Matthew Zook
University of Kentucky

Given the dizzying pace of change in the global economy, it's more important than ever to have a comprehensive point of reference to allow us to understand and map the transformations around us. Global Shift, Seventh Edition, is that book. While continuing to add new material on countries, sectors, and the policies that shape global industries, Global Shift also provides a solid analytical framework that helps the reader navigate the new terrain. And its great graphs, diagrams, and charts are a visual delight. If you had to use just one book to convey globalization's promise and perils, this is the book I would recommend.

Gary Gereffi
Duke University

Not just an update, the seventh edition of Global Shift offers compelling theoretical and empirical insights as it takes on the critical global political-economic processes and debates of our time. Dicken provides a welcome synthesis and interrogation of prevailing theories of the global economy and addresses such fraught issues as the 2008 financial crisis and the intensification of inequality. An amazing resource.

Erica Schoenberger
The Johns Hopkins University

Sample Materials & Chapters

Peter Dicken, Global Shift Ch2


For instructors

Please select a format:

Select a Purchasing Option