Blackwell Reference Online

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Global values refer to the moral and normative conceptions shared by individuals and social actors (such as international governmental and non-governmental organizations, transnational corporations, and global institutions) across national boundaries and that pertain to the future cultural shape of globalizing society. Global values have to be understood in the larger framework of cultural globalization and the globalization of culture. Far from being the product of a harmonious consensus, the delineation of global values is a contentious work-in-progress that reflects the complexities and ambiguities of the whole globalization process. As defined by Roland Robertson (1992) , globalization refers “both to the compression of the world and the intensification of consciousness of the world as a whole … both concrete global interdependence and consciousness of the global whole.” As a process of social change, globalization involves deterritorialization – the lifting off of social relations from territorial boundaries as well as the transformation of local relations. And as Robertson's definition indicates, globalization is also a reflexive process that involves a greater awareness of the impact of global phenomena on people's lives as well as of the potential impact of local matters at the global level. Globalization is therefore a process marked by unevenness (it produces winners ... log in or subscribe to read full text