ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the common-sense status assigned to the central claims of neoliberal globalization discourse. The analysis of high data allowed author to develop a portrait of neoliberal globalization discourse, accounting both for the discourse itself and for its common-sense status required additional forms of evidence. Mainstream approaches to international relations (IR) typically take a rather narrow view of the kinds of evidence appropriate to determining the meaning of something like globalization. The canonical distinction between high and low politics has a methodological manifestation of what one might call the distinction between high and low data. High data are those that circulate among elite institutions, be they states, international organisations, multinational corporations (MNCs), Non-governmental organization (NGOs), or the media. This chapter concludes by emphasizing a single, vital point: High politics cannot be comprehended through an exclusive focus on high data.
