ABSTRACT
Two closely interrelated aspects of recent global social change may be identified. The first aspect is the crisis at the world economy (and its supporting social and political structures) unfolding in the 1970s, followed by a (neo-liberal) restructuring process in the 1980s and beyond. The second aspect is that of economic globalisation and the concomitant rise of transnational capital. These aspects are interrelated inasmuch as the world economic crisis provoked capital to look increasingly beyond national borders in order to restore profit levels, whereas at the same time the resulting rise in global competition intensified the perceived need for economic restructuring as well as a restructuring of the socio-economic and political institutions of the post-war capitalist order.
