ABSTRACT
The globalisation literature that grew so rapidly in the 1990s was strongly shaped by convergence theory-based assumptions. Catchwords such as the ‘end of history’ and the ‘McDonaldisation of the world’ held out the prospect of homogenous social conditions worldwide. In response, the extent of globalisation was contested (cf., for instance, Hirst and Thompson 1996) or the counter-thesis of diverging trends promoted (Huntington 1996). These simplifying fronts1 have now given way to a more complex debate. It is possible to accept the reality of globalisation without assuming a convergence of trends. The need is for models which enable for a consistent conceptual understanding of broad and comprehensive global tendencies and of context-specific structural formations within the scope of a single theory (Schriewer 2005, 435). Metaphors such as ‘hybridisation’ or neologisms such as ‘glocalisation’ are not sufficient for this.
