This notion of ongoing and novel reconfi gurations of time and social space is central
to a number of globalization theories. It in turn points to the larger theoretical issue
of the relationship of social structure to space, the notion of space as the material
basis for social practices, and the changing relationship under globalization between
territoriality/geography, institutions, and social structures. For Anthony Giddens,
the conceptual essence of globalization is ‘time-space distanciation’. Echoing a
common denominator in much, if not all, globalization theories, Giddens defi nes
time-space distanciation as ‘the intensifi cation of worldwide social relations which
link distant localities in such a way that local happenings are shaped by events