ABSTRACT
Globalization' and 'development' are highly contested general organizing concepts, in both theory and praxis. The term 'development' emerged in English language usage in the 1840s, coinciding with rapid industrialization, radical social transformation and European imperialism. Sceptics have argued there is nothing new or surprising about today's globalization. Some divide the long world history of globalization patterns into successive waves and considers the recent wave as highly distinctive. Social scientific studies of globalization may be characterized along five foci. These five foci of globalization studies are not mutually exclusive. Within each domain, there are multiple and sometimes conflicting perspectives. Many sociological studies in the Critical Globalization Studies (CGS) have Lupon started to draw the legacy of 'critical social theory', mainly underpinned by the German idealism and abstract Kantian universalism, the critique of instrumental rationality and the rejection of positivism. This post-empiricist tradition has widened its scope by incorporating a broader range of analytical approaches, including historical materialist, dialogical, and post-structuralist analyses.
