Taking the preceding observations in sum, we see
that globalization has had very wide-ranging scope.
Indeed, the process has in some way touched every
aspect of social relations. The radio brings reports
from Buenos Aires and Beijing straight to our break-
fast tables. Swings on the global financial markets
make and break our fortunes, sometimes from one
day to the next. We drink Coca-Cola, munch a Big
Mac, wear jeans, listen to the latest hit singles, and
watch the newest video releases simultaneously
with millions upon millions of other people all over
the planet. Our car adds to the greenhouse effect
together with the bus in Bombay. Via the Internet,
the worldwide network of computer networks, our
office can be in immediate contact with Warsaw or
Washington. Suprastate regimes like the European
Union are largely determining our food prices,
while soldiers from our national army are joining
troops from multiple other states in a single UN _
peacekeeping operation. Our contributions to
Oxfam translate overnight into relief work in
Rwanda. These sorts of circumstances did not exist
when our parents were children, and there is at
present every indication that our children will
experience globality even more intensely than we
currently do. Today we live not only in a country; in
very direct and immediate senses we also live in the
world as a single place.