Global Developments and the Meaning of Local Cultures: Reflections on Structural Anomie

Abstract

Foreseeable worldwide development can be characterized by social destabilization, urbanization, and increasing migration. These trends are global, even if regional and cultural characteristics differ markedly and often progress at varying paces. The social processes indicated are interdependent. That is, they greatly influence each other in numerous ways, yet can rarely be explained only as clear and simple cause‐and‐effect relationships. The link between an economic situation and population growth is uncontested, as is the link between world trade prices of farm produce and the poverty within the countries of origin. But such general statements are not very suitable for analysis of specific regional and topical problems. More essential than aspects of worldwide social change, which can be quantified with relative ease, are their repercussions on social structures, the imbedding of local societies in a global network, the invisibility of change, and the further expansion of latent social conflicts.

Citation

Atteslander, P. (1995), "Global Developments and the Meaning of Local Cultures: Reflections on Structural Anomie", International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, Vol. 15 No. 8/9/10, pp. 221-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013230