Popular notions of what globalization is often misunderstand what
geography is both as an entity and an academic discipline, and fail to
appreciate how contemporary geographers define central components
of their analyses such as space, place, scale and location. The core
aim of this book is to illustrate that as the processes of globalization
fundamentally alter the way people, commodities and information flow
and interact, this creates new and complex geographies. There are two
notes of caution that need to be sounded about the ‘shrinking world’
concept immediately. First, the relative distance between some places
and people has become greater. For example, the income gap between
the poorest and richest countries and peoples has increased over the past
fifty years (Potter et al., 2004). Those who are hooked up to the internet
may enjoy rapid communications with distant friends who can appear to
be round the corner, but the majority who do not have access
to such technologies have become relatively more isolated. The fact that
‘shrinking’ technology can drive places apart is illustrated in Map