1
Disembedding
DisenXhnitiitig is the mast abstract of the key terms of globalization, and this stands to reasoru suk-o it t>i U ■< .v.'.-.-. I ».■;<(» >c>l •novt-mont towards <i more abstract
wontf When something is disembedded it is moved from a concrete, tangible, local context to. at} abstract or w/tunt state Mot}ey ts disembedded value; clock time >s disembartded lime; writing is disembedded language. For ginbaiiralinn to integrate people ail over ttie world mlo a shared system of communication, production, and exchange, some disembedding common denominators are necessary.
■ n August, 1969,1 visited San Juan. Puerto Rico I was in the middle of anthropological Ifiekfwork in Trinidad and look a break in order to familiarize myself a little with 1he wide* Caribbean region At the airport. I was on mv way tu an exchange olhca when I came across an ATM with a VISA symbol up front Tentatively slicking the card into Hie nudum;; ,ind typing my PlN code, I was uncertain as to what to expeel, but after a few seconds, the machine duly presented the required greenbacks and—even more-impressively—a receipt, which told me my enact (meager) bank balance. My money nn longer had a physical 1orm; it had been moved to cyberspace la term corned five years earlier in William Gibson's novel Neutonfancer. 19B4). The money had been disembedded, removed from a tangible, physical context.
As a rule, anything thai can be accessed anywheiu is disembedded. It could be a clip on You Tube, an international agreement, a stock exchange rate, or a soccer game lprov«ded Us main audience watdws it on TV and not at the stadium). One main contemporary form of disernhedrtmg is neterritar/el&atian, which takes place when something is 'lifted out of" its physical location (Giddens 1D90: 21) Before we delve more deeply into the concept and rts implications for the real world, let us consider a famous example ol deterritorialwod war line
When, in September M01. Ihe man U.S president George W Ruiih announced Ins "ww on luriur: U may have bwun Hie first lime in history thel mn MhMl ww was
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Tlw cause ol the declaration ol war waa the »«rotist attack on the Uniled State», Wtwro 1hrea civilian airplanes wore hijacked by lerrousis helongtng to the militant Muftlim al-CJauda organization and flown into the Wer Irl Trade Canter and the Funlagon A Iniiith plane, with an uncertain destination, crashed en roule. Rathe* Itian seeing Ihm as a laigu stale enms, the U S governrnent defined the event as*lhe beginning . I .i wai Hr>wever. ii was not to be a war between territorially rtelined units, such as. iwMnn-slates. Several of the hijackers lived and studied in the Umted Slates Musi nP ifmrn were of Saudi origins, but 1f*y were not acting on orders from the Saudi n I ill 11 The organisation on whose behalt they acted seemed to have its headquarters in Afghanistan, bul the members were scattered—some Irving in North America, some in l iiiiipf! scmuj in Pakistan, and so on
Tlw rölion-state has uiwitlifluous boundaries; it is defined in Benedict Anderson's tamous terms as being imagined as "inherently limited and soveieiurV 11991 119831 61 Wws iiiu fought by the military, whose mission it is to protect the external borders ot Mm DOunHry. A nation-state thus has a clearly defined inside and outside The events of
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In mi .ibsolute. Nalions are effectively being deterntonalized m a number of ways through Mixjiatmrt, economy inveslrnonts. and a number o1 other processes, and tho vwn 1 ■■ i i. .111 ii *jstrates Ittat this O now also the case with war America's enemies can m tw;1 I ii i nywhoie m the world and operate from any sile, since American interests are global.
A friw days alter the September 11 events, a thought-provoking photo waa reproduced in newspapers worldwide h depicted military guards watching over the Mitumces to Mew Ymk's Grand Central Stalmn. The image was a reminder ol two fttturta ul t|tobali7alion: The boundary belwcon pnl»ce and military becomes bliiinsd even in democracies where the military is not notrnaily visible in the streets ar»d Mlfjgests a partial collapse ol the boundary between inside and outside. IThis blurring ill Um inside/outside boundary is also evident in ihe military patrolling of EU borders along the northwest African coast and the military's role m lypical transit areas, such as ihr ■: .iii.irv Islands. The division of laboi between police und military is negotiable and uncertain in these regions^ Second, this image is suggestive of vulnerability in a world •miiiety wt«re everything travels more easily lhan betöre, including weapons and Ihn l. <ni.In carrying tfninn
fhe war on terror is instructive as a lessen in Ihe form of a disembedding charac-lerwtic ol the global era, wheie ihe disembedding mechanisms ol modernity, wlnrji iii,itHi nbstmct common ihinoininetora and thus conrJttions lor global corrwnunicHton
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ilnl()iriliiri.ili/.iliiiii   lli.it'. i.......''•'»» winmitiy distance becomes irrelevanl.
Globalization and Distance
A mrfiimal definition ot globalization could delimit it simply as all the contempoiary processes thai make distance irrelevant. A major body of work in glohal^ation studies is, accordingly, concerned with disembedding fGiddens 1990} and its effects on social life and the organization of society
Disembedding emails the "lifting out" of phenomena fthings, people, ideas . . .) tram their original context. Writing, it could thus be said, disembeds language just as an ATM disembeds money, ar>d the wristwatch Jrsemheds time This concept 1^if m! its close relatives! diaws attention 1o the /ekfrwafion of space engendered by
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In the early nineteenth century, newspapers m Norlh America reported from the Napoleonic wars in Europe week* and sometimes months after the event News had to I mi tienaporH4 tnttKftly md uii|*irdiclably, by sail stop Travel, even in the relatrvury i. ■ iii|Mn( W»»Htiirn I iiropo, was slow, cumbersome, and risky, Most goods were, for practical raaaona, produced ir> physical proximity to the markets. With the development i>l i|tii|i.ii Iimiiiii mi iii'twcxkit, transnational investment capital, consumption mediated Iiv MiiMii?y in .iM im iHiinly     aooetios, and noi least the last and cheap means of
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In mi 1lir»i Mln of production. Whim il doesn't matter where something was mada or r|on«\ it im:. Iimm disumheildnd.
Hnwiiwii 'Ir.iM-il.Milling has a deuper and mom comprehensive meaning; it does not matety, or even primarily, refer to the shrinking of the globe as a result of communication technology and global capitalism Anthony G*ddens defines disembedding as 'the 'lifting out' of social relations Irom local contexts ol interaction and their lu-structuring across indelimie spans of tome-space" 11990: 211. Put in everyday language, it could be described as a gradual movement from the concrete and tangible to the abstract and virtual.Think of the global financial system as an example values registered on a stock exchange, or the value nf a particular currency, are somehow related to tangible goods and services but in an abstract and general way.
Disembedding processes are associated with modernity and are indued a central leature of it. Some important disembedding processes evolved m premodem times, but the central argument of this chapter is thai global modernity, or the globalization ot modernity it one peelers, can be described as a series of disembedding processes wuh a transnalHir^l and potenliafly global reach.
Towards a More Abstract World
The most important disembedding revolution of premodern times was wguahly the Invention ot writing Through wrilmg. and especially phonetic writing {alphabet* rather than ptctographic systems, such as hieroglyphs), utterances were asperated from the
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Wilting made it possible to develop knowledge in a cumulative way. in the sense ttml
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dependent on face-to-face conlad with one's teachers. They had left their thoughts mid discoveries for posterity in a irwlenal. frozen form The quantitative growth in the Mai i m rwtedge of humanity presupposes the existence ol wnting. Thomas Aqmnas I12Í6-W OtKitd, working in a European monastery in the thirteemh century, spend a lilulime trying In rihconcile two irnportanl sets ol texts— the Bible and Anslotle's philosoprty whnh win o .tiiiMijy thun considered ancient. Explorers travelling in the Black Sea area in Hut until i.iiuliiry ■: i. could compare their observations with Herodotus's descrtplions from Urn tilth century o.c.l. Mathematicians and scientists cnulrt draw on Euclid's Lhtmntt mul written works by Archimedes as points ol departure when setting r*it In dnvnlnp now insights Wniir>g makes it possible to stand firmly and rationally on the rihuulilnti*
[ |f deceased and remote ancestors (Goody 1977). This would also be the caso m nllim parti ol the world with writing systems: the mature versions of Chineaa phsoaophy, Hull,m niaihematics. and Mayan astronomy were clearly the results of long. umiuUMI nl'iiii. |iii."juuposing a technology capable nl Ireezing Ihought.
A nonliterate society has an oral rehgion where several versions ol tlw mint n r« n n lam rrrr-Uis usually circulate, where the extent of the religion is hmitnd k«v H«
t iMiii ol ihe spoken word, and where There is no fixed set of dogma to win. h ľ m PiMMul musí adhere. A literate society, on the contrary, usually has a written inagfenn (Often in the shape ol saciud texts}, with a theoretically mlm-nler! goiuji.ipl.ii m-,i, I wiili .i clcaily dehneaied set of dogma and principles, and with authoii/ed. cortSjOt vmtuons of myths and nanatives. Such a religion can in principle be identical in the Ai.ihi.in Peninsula and in Morocco lalthough it •$ never this simple in practice, local OtiOUtTWtances impinge on it. and oral traditions never die completelyl IIn- llimn ginal leligions of conversion Irom West Asia llho Abrahamic religions! have all tfMisn Characteristics, which they do not share with a single traditional African religion On real Mu, nonetheless, oral and literate cultures nun in one uud Ihe same societies Thn orally n iiv.iniiied luile traditions live side by side wuh the fixed great traditions, the (onnw, nil. n dismissed as siaierstitions or heresies, have pioved rerriarkably tesilienl nww ttm i nntufies. even in sowettes dominaled by powerfiJ, literate tredioonsj
A nonliterale society, further, has a |udicial system based on custom and tradition, whiiii .i literate sociely has a legislative system based on wullc-u law- Mtwality m |h« nonliterate sociely depends: on inter personal relations—it is embedded m tangible niLiliimships between individuals—while moraliiy in the litoiato sociuly in tlwwy is
legalistic—that is, embedded in the wininii legislation. Even the relationship tun w«.....
parents and children is regulated l>y wntlnn L»w m ihii In id "f Mii;iety
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available at any parlieulai point in lime, is emhorfced in Ihoso members ol aocmty who happen to be alive. When an old person n>es m a small, nonhterale society, tins not luss of knowledge can be coiisidaiable.
Most nonlitorate societies are organized on the basis of kinship, wMu literate societies tend to be state societies whefe an abstract ideology o' community, such as nationalism, functions as a kind of rnelaphorical kinship. In certain nonstaie societies, the "religions of the Book" iChristianity, Islam, and Judaism) have historically worked *i a similar way. creating a disembedded, Of absuact, community encompassing persons who will never physically meel.
A\ a political level, the general tendency is that nonliterate societies am erther decentralized and egalitarian, or chieldoms where political office is inherited. Literate soooiios, or* the other hand, are strongly centralized and tend to have a professional adrninistralmn where oMice is, in principle, accorded lollowing a lorrrvil set o1 rules In general, lituratu societies are much laiger. both in geographic size and in population, than nonliterate ones. And while the inhabitants of nonl iterate soraet>es tell myths about wfio lliay are and where they eorne Irom, literate societies have history to fill the same functions, based on archives and other written sources flevi-Strauss 1963 1196211
Writing, m thrs way, has been an essential tod in the transition from what we could call a cotTcrefi? soCWty based on intimate, personal relationships, memory, local religion, and orally transmitted myths, to art abstract soctety based on formal lecjslaiion. archives, a book religion, and wntten history, I shall mention four other innovations in communication technology, which, together with writing, indicate the extent o1 disembertding in (he social lile Df modern societies.
Abstract Time and Temperature
The mechanical dock was developed in th-s F.jhxiimu medieval age, partly due 10 a perceived need to synchronise prayer times in the monasteries iThe tails d1 the Muslim muezzin and the Christian church bells are contemporary reminders of the initial function of timing technology.) Calendars are older and were developed independently in many more soc»elies than writing In gcueial, however, calendars in nonmodem societies were nnt a technics aid to help societies make 1rve-year plans and individuals 10 keep track of their daily schedules and deadlines but wore lather linked with the seasons, ritual cycles, astronomy, and the agricultural year. The dock is more accurate and more minute (literally) than the calendar, h measures tune aa well as cutting it mlo quantifiable segments. In spile of its initially religmus function, the clock rapidly spread to coordinate other fields of activity as well. The Dutch Hunker Hugo GkiIius I15B3-1645) formulated a motal maxim, which iihr.ii ni 11this (iinlius is widely known l:n fir. uuntrihiilmris In pohlical philosoplTy, but h» » uhni unrmuirnus niiintictiiiN] us Hid first pos tetanic Euiupuan In delrmd a inunU pnm i|*e mmp4e1ory
divili'. ■■.Mi. .. 'i'In in 'ii i'u» ii (n.ii.iv . i vif1u»l" I" Time is money" is a Utnr lofirmriinnl nl this principle, sometimes mtiiliiiimi in hnii|itmln Franklin.]
In the same way as willing .mhiimHi/m-. l,ni.■• |> . tucks tixlerneto* time. Time becomes somotrwiu existing Muiu|Hiiiit<iniiy of fiuman experience, something uti|wcliv« will measurable. This was do'inilury ncH the case in iradilwnat socielies. where it ikihitants live within an event-driven time structure in ■ I ■■ m ■ ■ iveryday existence. L vuriia regulate the passage ol time, not the other way around. If a traveler, or an ethncnpjqitMii. In mi African villuye wonders when a certain event will take place, the answer may hit ' When everything is ready" Not, m otfiur woids, "al aquarler to live." Bin íoil.ry. Ukhii .mi in: i:hj..ir rjul distinctions. Even in societies where clocks and rjmetabfciti liuvo ntitdu Ifieii entry long ago. it may well be that Uiey are not rJredly connected to peoplei iivHiiydiiy life. A colleague who earned out anthropological fioidwoik in tb-n Javam ■ m ...... liysnie lokl me lhai erxj day. he needed to take a train to the nearest Ihjwii :.<i
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puzzled expression and pointed to Ihe iracks: "The irain comes from that direction. Hirm it slops here, and alter a little while it continues in lhu olhei direction." End of
account.
i Ii k* Ume turns time into an autonomous entity, something that exists mdepundunlty Ol events An hour may emst iin our mmdsl in ar ahslr=>r.t way. M is ,vi t-nifity m m, ili.ii ::<in be Tilled with anything. Hence, it is common 10 speak ol clock time as ninety, quantified time. It is dxtpped up into in accurately measured pieces, like meteni ffl0) rjacilners. These entities are presupposed to be identical for everybody, anywfmui anil anytime Living in our kind of society sometimes gives us the feeling thai we were vminhow obliged to sign a contract the moment we were born, committing m to lilrrtVing faith in clock and calendar time.
Mechanical time measurement turns time into an exact, objective, mid .»lr.!*in I ■iriliiy. .i ^traitjacket 1r> the 1lows and ebbs of experienced tune piirhiip:, Im ifwn kind of time will always pass at varying Speed; as everybody knows, live minulu* OM lent anything liurn a uiornent to an eternity. The philosopher who h.r. ■ 11■ •-■ t■ i■ ■ i■ ■ ■ t iin most systematic assault on this quantitative time tyranny is, doubtless, Hunu I■ ■ • ■ i . ■ ' i-'-':  !•'       uoetoial thesis from 18fi9. :ř.."i.-i-r-. „-.-t-.-;).'.,(,'-. (• :.,
• i v isťM?rwř? f'On the immediate givens of consciousness"!, rendered in Englrah ■■
W ifiirj Frw Wiff. he severely criticizes the quantitative, empty ume that reguJutet Ui Fi ■ mu the outside, instead of letting thu tasks at hand till the time Irom within
Hhj clock also has the potential to synchronize everybody who lw*s been txought within its charmed Circle. Everyone who reads tins is in agreement regarding what it iiiiNPis when we say thai ii is. say. 8 15 v u Everybody knows wliun to turn on tlm Hill*.- in i . ,-. in ■, ,111.iitiuulai program, and they do it simultaneously. uiilopiMnliiiilly nl each other 11 Ihe program has already begun wlion onu turns it on. it is not because Um TV channel tails to meet its commitments, but because something is wrong wnh tlm vkiwih's timefjiece. Coordirwlnm ol simplex |irin>iution in htclories and oflicn nnvimiiMmills would -il'ui, ruMur.illy, f^nvr- Imhih uuthinkalile without the clock, at would jmlytbmg from public trena|KHl u> < niniiui -,1mw,
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thermometerdriven regime«, il ts rwl acceptabJe to State merely that it leels cold when one can walk over to the therrnumeter arvl obtain ttie exacl number of degrees. H it shows more tfian 20 dep/ees Celsius |6B degiecs Fahrenheil), it is rvol Uic in temperaiure. as it were, but orieself that is to bume.
Money as a Means of Communication
An even more consequential kind of technoloijy than the thermometer is another invention that pulls adherents and victims in the samu direction—namely, money. In traditional societies, the concept of both language and time exist but wri tiny and clocks do not Similarly, money-like instruments exist in many kinds of societies, bul our kind of money, general-purpose money, is recent and historically culture bound It does roughly the same thing to payment, value measurements, arid exchangees clocks and writing do to tune and language., respectively. They make the :ra"is::;:iiu-i abstract and impose a standardised gud onto a large area (ultimately the whole world). They place individual, mundane transactions under an invisible umlxella of abstraction.
Shell money, gold corns, and other compact valuables are known Irom a wide range of traditional societies They may, peihaps, be u&edas fsJue standards 10 niafco different goods comparable—a bag of grain equals hall a gold coin; a goat equals nail a gold coin; ergo, a sack of grain can be bartered with a goat They may be used as means on exchange, I can buy two goats with a gold coin. They may even bo used as means of payment; I haver killed my neighbor, and I have to pay the widow and chidren thiae gold corns m compensation. However, modern money is a much mora- powerful technology than anything cuniparatjle to what we know from traditional societies. Above all, it is universal in its field of applicability. It may be that Lennon and McCartney were correct m their view that love is not a marketable cormrHidity I "Can't Buy Me Love"—althougli r. is easy tc find cynical socioluyists who argue the contraryl. bul in general, one single kind of money 'unctions as & universal means ol payment and exchange, and as a value standard. West African cowrws had no value outside a limited area, and even there, only certain norm nudities and services could ba purchased with them General-purpose money is legal tender in an entire state of millions of inhabitants, and if we belong to a country with a convertible currency, that money is valid worldwide. Regarded as information technology, money lias truly contribulerl to the crealion o1 une woild, albeit a world mlo which only people ol means are integrated Money makes wages and purchasing power all over the woild comparable, makes it possible to exchange a ton of taro from Now Guinea with electronics from Taiwan, and it is a necessary medium for the world economy to bu possOle ai all Whereas transactiun ,mi| ti.ii.iu in many societies depondod on trust and personal mlaimnuhips between seller and
buyer, tfio abstract and universal rnunny ™- .m f.iiruliar will.....ply .111 uxtcmidlifiitiou
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Abstract Music
A tuiiil u*ample is musical notalwri. All or nearly all societies we know possess some kind of music, bu: notation was only invented a cuuple of times—namely, m Emopn (ninth century c 1 I and China/Japan <teiilh century c f |. However, it was only m Euiop« thut an expressed aim of notation from the very beginning was to create an entirely lymbofcc language tot communicating musical contem—the ChinoseAlapainHn ■lysiism was based on pictographs proper to ihe written language In the beginning, the rudimentary notes marked only ascent and descent of tone level. Eventually. <hny
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•i.iM windi niade it possible to mark specified intervals. In the same period, Dm notation system was standardized, and symbolic markers depicting tone duration were ulsn introduced At me beginning of the sixteenth century, the sysiern with wlmii wh .in- 1.iii-.ili.il was largely in placa.
Several aspects of musical notation are relevant in the presem content I hm wrillnii rim-,ic iifies the same to music as script does to language; it liberates music IfOfH Ihri performer ar>d makes il possihle 10 store music independently ol people as wwlt
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with anothe* perlormer Only those aspects of music that can be depicted m writing inn ijopted with a high degree of lidtHny across the geneiations. Just us ihnru m mi in. li'l rule residue m speech that is not transmitted through texts, the sau*i ukjIiI im wild ul music Ifeelmg and, until quite recently, absolute tempo, ate two such aspects) 'nicond, notes freeze music, iust as history fretjjes myths and dorks altonipl to U> I'm v.iiiable flow of lime In several European cotintries. folk music that had nviJvi il i.jiiiiluHify for centuries was suddenly transcribed and preserved in fro^em form durmij natitxial ronianticism; as a result, it is played today note by note as n was played, aay, n llii: mid-nineleenth century l&ndmg-Larsen 19911.Third, notation lays the ctn«fititm» 11 n .irwiher kind of complexity than what would otherwise have been possible Toiinyly. in>i.Won was developed m tfie same period as potyufiony, a musical innovation 1hst • ■ > ■ -..lred only m Europe Meilher the niulliuinaticel regularity ol Bach's futjur". rmr Itm vin y l.«n|f. number ol voices in Bfiflthoven's symphonies would have been possible wilhoiil an uucur.ili! svnUiim ol noMiinn flwi Mtandard tone A440 |a pur»r A r, wiw
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of years It is the equMetont in immir; to Ihe gold standard, Greenwich Mean Time, and the meter rod in Pans A shetwi, ehMr* i nMmhid r. .r.-.uni^i in |m< v.iiiii loi .tiipnfHnris
nt ml tinwis
Printing and Factories
The transitions from kinship to national idenlity. Irom custom to legislation. from cowrie money or similar 1o yoi i'.m ill-purpose money, from local itHigxms to wntten religions al conversion, from person-dependent moraMy to universakistic morality, hom memory to archives, horn myths to history, and from event-driven time to dock time, all point in tfw same direction: from a small-scale society based nn concrete sooal relations and practical knowledge 10 a large-scale society based un an abstract legislative system and ausUdCt knowledge founded in logic and science.
Two further historical changes, wrth important implications for both thought and ways of life, need mentioning as conditions lor widespread disembedding: printing and 11 if nnuslnal revolution
Belore the ere ol pcint—Joharn Gutenberg lived from ahoi.it 1400 to 1468—literacy existed in many societies, but it was not particularly widespread There were several causes loi this, among other things, the fact that a book could be as costly as a small farm Bolh tn Europe and Asia, books were written by hand, largely by monks, but also by professional copyists. Then Gutenberg invented his printing press with movable type, frequently seen as Hie single most important invention of the last two thousand years, and suddenly, books became relatively inexpensive, This happened 1rorn M55 and onwards, to be exact; this was the year Gutenberg printed the famous lorty-two-line Bible. lhat is to say. books oW not become really cheap yet. Gutenberg's Bible cost thirty guilders, and the annual salary for a manual worker in his home area was ten guilders. During the following decades, the new technology spread rapidly to cover the central parts of Europe, and bouks became increasingly inexpensive. The first printing shop had already been founded in England by William Caxton m 1476 Caxton was a printer, editor, book salesman, and publisher (a common combination as late as the nineteenth century), and he contributed in no small degree to standardizing English orthography and syntax. Printing entailed standardization in other countries as well, in addition 10 facilitating access to books written in native languages, at the expense of Latin. The market was suddenly much larger than the small sine of Latin scholars, Printing was a decisive lacior for the emergence of new science, philosophy, and literature- m early modern times. Il was ciuoal for both mass education and Hie creation of civil society in European cities and led to consequences Gutenberg could never have foreseen. His main amhilions seem to have been 10 prml Bibles and pay his debts.
The features Dt yummy that are most relevanl here are its contnbulion io the spectacular growm in information and Us standardizing effects on language and l nought Cheap, printed books contributed to the standardization o1 both lann.uage and worldviews. An identical message, clothed in identical linguistic garb, could now be broadcast lo the entire middle class from Augsburg to Bremen Thus, a national public sphere could emerge for the first lime, consisting ol equals who were preoccupied wi Hi the same writers, the same political and theological questions. Hie same philosophical, geographic, and scientific novelties, (-tuning was so important Icn tfm duvniniirnont
ol democracy and nattonallam thai ImwmIii i AmMmmi <mvh tim IiukIuui ioIu to punt
i rifjiiahsm in his histoucol ilniiiin nliiMil ttm nun of nationalism, Inutgmad Convnunttí»M H(M>1 |1983|) Without if a:i him in l<il ilu •.yinni of production and dislrtiution, it is diMtcull
10 Me how a person in M<irbullion could iwnii ihuam ol having a morally cummiHod testing ol community with a put son in Lille Seen as a technological device lor creating •Detract communities—lhat is, solidarity and empathy between people who will rwiviir mnut m the flesh—print capitafcsm is king. An underlying question for us is, naturally il Pflnt capitalism bequeathed nationalism and democracy, whal lies in stoiu 1oi us uhni
11 win ni mi niiui ly dominated by the Internet and digital satellite television ?
11 look a long time for literacy to become truly widespread even after the rise of iiiinlii-:| •. -: I - - ii: :n;\. i '-'.•it i•!r • :; Vn,.-. LiL'ih.jpt, 10 |:nii:i-ii! ď Mir |m..|n.l,ltli)li in I m it. ind and Wales was literate No country has an illiteracy rate even approaching th» Imliy Lvun womun in couseivativa, patiiarcfial societies Iiuwj a highur lii«:i.n:y i.in< limu 1lin male inhabitants of Shakespeare's England.
II was punting coupled with universal primary education arid mass ino*». hie iinwiipaners and magazines Including books published m monthly installmnnts), thai hilly pulled tfie minds of ordirvaiy men and women into Itie new, abstract society Thm ■mi ii My consisted of an enormous number of persons who were all cogs in a gianl min luno, and eventually, they could easily be leplsced by utheis in Ifm |rfiii|ui:tivii
i.....Their knowledge and skills were not unique but standardized and HiiH«tof*
i miniarable to others' knowledge and skills. With the harnessing ol fossil fualn anil tha subsequent industrial revolution from the late eighteenth century nnwwrdn, Km im ■ .itnlilv" V:í:í turned into practice for the 1 is: 1 me.
Disem bedded Nations
r^yson-iboddirig means the limng out of social relations Irom their local embed L^dedness Thinking along these lines, ard ooking at demil cation and belonging.
■ ■ . ■ in.iv it ■ i.       - Mm: I     :.J;:||. ■jf.K.niW.....I v " I.. =:i mil n in   on Ihfi Ui'i > - i
nnsurmg thecommuea oyalty ar>d idenlrficalon o1 chizens or ex-citizens hrwing abroad. In terms of ecwrnics and svategic interests, such an enlarging of the national interest makes perfeci sense. The Chilean government discovered irus potential in the •any 2000s During the military rjictatorsrup [1973 901. roughly a million Chileans left the country, and the maiohfy did not return after the retntroclucliOn of i iihn ii hi ucy I iiui o ai c oooulc register cd as Chileans in 11 a ciiLiri 11 h ji -oi ji n i 11 in woi kJ. irven if many lost their citizenship after lleeing from the Pinochet dictatorship In the ".iily ?000s. ihc government actively sought i.u ininiKijiiiii! :wmwis Chileans and their descendants, not by encouraging their return, but by enhancing thee wise of CNIeanness, which might In turn benefit the state through investments and Crwlaan Activities scattered around Iho globe Chile was officially made up ol thirteen regions,
t.ul ificri'iiMiigly .1 laultfilHilli ..... cillnrl rhc n:i| tin ol t.-tt-xtt»M)i in t>l it"->>\ ■t\-«lu>
<lher«unionl wnji ■ imhMiihi*k!.....Ninnl imd unofficifll conlent? Iniluiliviis wmn rivnn
Inkiiri in mkiw CtuMiwi arllala\w»> nhnv.nl m ,n,|ily \,y ^wninmnril I■ n•• n.j
DI1IMHI11ihni.
Another, mwe common way of using (he Internet to enhance national ulentilies that lack a territorial base is by nations lacking a statu or exiles in political opposition Or the Internet (and wi:h a gw.nii tyesftnca on Facebookl, various Tamil. Kurdish, Palestinian, Sikh. and Iranian wetosrtes bnng news and host discussion tomms reprosemmg and aimed towards thftif scattered, deterritorialiTed constituencies, thereby encouraging, and strengthening strong collective identities among peoole who wwkl otherwise have been isdsied Irom each o'hei (Lnksen 'JQQih).
The use of the Internet by states in order to stimulate and kindle national loyalty among nationals living in diaspora? is by now very widesp«oad Since most debates about immigration m the receding countries deal with integration, this kind ol measure is bound 10 De perceived as a fragmenlTig lorce in the host countries. Yet. what is interesting here is the lact (hat disembedding mechanisms have the poturmal of making political boundaries congruent with cultural ones, as Ernest Gettner puts it in (U?r»ns and HattonQlism U963I'—even when both kinds of boundaries are thoroughly dotemtorialized.
Nationalism as a Template for Globalization
Nationalism, often seen as an oDsla.de to globalization, is a product ot the same forces that are shaping the latter isee Sassen 20061 Historically, an important pan played by nationalisl ideologies in coniornporary nation-staler has consisted in integrating an ever larger number ol people culturally, politically, and economically. The French could riot be meaningfully described as a people hefare the French Revolution, which brought the lle-de-France iPansian) language, notions of liberal political rights, uniform primary education, and not least, the self-conaciousness ol being French, to remote areas—first to the local bourgeoisies, later lin some cases mudh later) to the bulk of the population. Similar large-scale processes took place in all European countries-during the nineteenth century, and the modern slate, as well as nationalisl ideology, i$ historical and logically linked with the spread of literacy (Eriks&n 2010; Goody 1977), the quantification of time, and the growth Dt industrial capitalism. The model ol the nation-state- as Ihe supreme political unit has spread throughout the twentieth century. Not least due to the increasing importance ol international relations (trade, warlaru, etc.), the nation-state has played an extremely important part in the making of the contemporary world. Social integration on a large scale through the imposition ol a uniform system of education, the introduction of universal contractual wage work. ■ i,ii 1ardi7ation ol language, and so forth, is accordingly the explich aim o1 nationalists in the paity of me wnrlrt often spoken of as developing countries. It may be possible to achieve some ol these aims Cry contrasting 1he nation with a different nation or a minority residing in the state, which is tfien depicted as inferior or threatening. This strategy for cohesion is uairomery widespread and is not a peculiar characteristic of ihe nation-Mute IS such similar ideologies and praclioes are found n< I- n ■ Inc11■.i-.• -:I ',<nmhos and iniwmii uiUin miiniitlirm alike. In&olai 11 muimv |iro|m:linm are dealt
'/villi Hi Mi<- [Miim-iH i <iiMii.1   H.i.y 41« l4<UHPik"il IK, 11 Hull ■■. In .nhliWiririirM.il ri.iln.li.il
i:oli«sinn. simi.ii inlnniritHiikiJ i in ilk In mn inn......in m
Nationalism « a mod* of BOdiel oigerM/MlMin rupinsimls a qualitative leap from
Hi.irlinr Inrms of inteqi.iliiin Willw.......I.....     .I.ii■ • nil irwin and women am cili/oris. and
lliey parlicipale in a systniiml miI.iIkiii'.Ihi ■■. v.li. i■ I he, h i■■:ind noon, ifiiI coiiUitxilo n: lln? i!>isl^nce of a vast numboi ol individuals whom tlw/y will novor k now pm sunnily the iruxri social distinction iipim.its as ttiM between insiders and outsiders—between i:in/nns and noncitizens. The lotal system appears abstract and imperwtral.ilr- l<i thn i:ili/en, who must neve*(huluss trust that it serves his needs. The seeming conlindicnon l mm win m ihe individual's immediate concerns and the large-scale machinations of the nation-stale is bridged through nationalist ideology proposing to accord each individii.il ii-i n particular value. The ideology simultaneously depicts ttte nation rnetaphoiicriliy as an enormous system of blood relatives or as a religious community and is a benefactor satisfying immediate needs (education, jobs, health, security, etc.). Through tins kind of ideological lediuiquo, nationalism can serve to open and ■ I-:■• ■ ■ I. .iinm lioundancs of social systems. Some became brothers metaphorically, others, whOM inumhership in the nation (and consequently, loyalty! is debatable, become 0Uls*dera Unlike the Situation in premodern societies, nationalism cornmunieaUis mainly thniuuh utmirnct media (written laws, newspapers, mass meetings, etc), whereat kinship
i'   -i'ly   •■ ■ :i:" in -.....:.i"'.! n   1-n .'•!.' -fa;     If IC't n :■' i   Hi.;.- IviriK.-i pi .--.i in ii ••• • Mi'
tatter as a metaphoric model (Enksen 2010; sec also Smith 1991)
Nationalism is ideally based on abstract norms, not on personal loyally Vinwrnl .1-. .i popular ideology, nationalism is inextricably intertwined with the dusliriy ul llio nation-state. Where the nalion-stete is ideologically successful, its inhabitant haumio
<i.i?......ihsls—iha: is. iheir identities and ways of hfe gradually grow compiiiiiilii with
11H- dun lands ul me nation-slate and support iis growth. Where rialionaaMn laila In < otivince. the state may use violence or the threat ol violence to prevent fission Ifm ii" mopofy on lfnj use ot legitimate violence is. togemer with its monopoly ol taxation,
imii (d rim nicisi important characteristics of tfnj modern slate; hnwirvor, vhiIh.....
i i<iualfy seen as a last resort More common are political sttalegtes an rung 1o intogialn fill lux to distinctive categories ol people culturally. Since national boundaries di.imi" ImhiriiiaWy, and since nations can be seen as shifting collectivities ol people cnnctuviug ul Hut* culture and history as shared. I his is a-i ongoing process Ethnic groups can vnni-.h through annihilation, or more commonly, through assimilation. They may also
ul ■.....      '■■ i •-•   I .ii-.I n.i'r' l':i:-.'\ ,i l"nc it to 1'iC ■:-:■!• Ml -I"■ t -i.lt :.ir.:! I'.i'i ir,        -II.HI. w.iy
HillMir as agents of subversion Ithey do, after all. represent alternalive cultural idiomm mnl vhIuus tNs was how the ..Jews of Na/i Germany were depicledQ or as agents ol fiHMim Iwtiich was evidently the case with Baltic nationalists before 1991).
Nationalist strategies are truly successful only when Hio 'date sirnullaiKMiusly im.riiiiMis its sphere of influence and responds ii.-ihbly to popular rtoniiiiiris. ihi'iiiiry mimiiliiiinu national sentiment Ironi belnw. Ii is lautologtcalrv tiue ttvit ii the nalKin-slalo
.iii.l il-  .uH-tv. i-. ;:,in 'LllrJy [iiiiMiivnr] rmciihi 111 w.iys .li:klli>wli!di>('il IIV tl»' : ill/nlr.
thiui 11'. irkliabitants become rMlltHialmls. The main ttireala to iMlMiruil inlnnration art
DlStWIiMilhiNi.
thereforealternativesocial relationships, which can also satisfy perceived needs. There are potential conHicts betvroon IFhj nution statu and uouState modes ol organization,. which may follow normative principles incompatible with those represented bv the slate.This kind of conflict is evident in every country in the world, and il can bo studied as ideological conflict, provided ideology is not seen mereFy as a system of ideas but as sets of practices guided by such ideas. Typical examples are A1r can countries, whore tribaiism, or organization along ethnic lines, is perceived es e threat <by the naiion-statel or as an alternative (by the citizens) to the universalis! rfwlonú and uracLiuus
of nationalism. From tne citizen's point of view, nationalism may or may noi be a
viable alternative to kinship or ethnic ideo-togy íw there may be two nationalisms to choose between—e.g., an Ethiopian and a Somali one. in eastern Fthiopiai—anrl she will choose lbe option nest suited lo satisfy ber needs, be 1hey of a metaphyseal, cconoimc, or political nature. The success or failure of attempts at national integration must therefore be studied not only at the level of political strategies or systemic imperatives, hut M must equally be understood at the level of the everyday life-world. In a word, ihe ideological struggles and the intrastate conflicts, as welt as the enntext-speeidc options Tm tfw good hie, ihape and are simultaneous^ rooted m the immechete experiences n1 its citizens, and the analysis mus1 begin there.
Other Disembedding Mechanisms
In the realm of production, the labor contract of the capitalist enterprise is a disefTibHddmg instrument sapaiatmy Lhe laboi powur of thu udrvidual 1rom the entire person. Unde* a labor contrad. workers were and are, at least in principle, Free :o quit, and their obligations to the employer are h mi ted to their working hours. Other examples, coukj have been mentioned. The point is that modern societies are characterised by a particular kind of complexity, wtrare the livus of individual ^ uie cuinpurUr-oruuhiOd iGerger et al l973r into separate roles or functions and thereby become replaceable with each other in particular domains. This is not the only possible wuv ul ir^k'ng a society work. Indian caste society and traditional Australian wortdviews are two spectacular examples n1 social and cultural complexity, respectively. Nonetheless, modernity is today in a uniquely important position, it is hegemonic on the verge of becoming universal, and due to its disembedoing and cornoartmentahzing lunctions,
\: lays the foundations 1oi global nuiwurk ug ii 'jynjiiuii^es and standardizes an
enormous number of persons, all ol them little cogs in a great machinery. II draws un o shirud rrwchamcal time structure, a global medium for economic transactions (money!, technologies of production and destruction fiased on a shared theoretical science and easily tiansleiaWo krRiwtudgo. Modernity coordinates the movementl and thoughts ol an enormnus number of people iri ways 1ha1 wuni Ixiiti unkmwn and unthinkable in nonmuduni socmiiaa. II dtvorcos ii'. m .> ■ui< irnir i |kh in niui individuals t>v exInrnHli/ing time, language, economy, memory, mouldy  mm I hi. ...vh..   • Ami il
nrutfilns n nMrty nitrate MCMflOmplniUlv Inn wkhIiJ vvt>nnitnnjiK|.irnit. ,im ,n, .n-iuin|ly
i illative and negotiate
Many read critically to particular aspect! ol dnenrnbeddtng, seeing it as dehu"inm/n n p
• ■'. ill-i ii ■-11 ii o|ipn!n:iiVH) or inaulhentic—or ttiey are simply unable 1o reap its proIKi^ tot example, by being excluded from the formal labor market They are eegtQad In vinous lorms ot reembadding, witnessed, For example, in the inlorrnal sector 111 Itie -11 nixiirty (based on laisl and interpersonal relationships) or in local idenllty polrtlci limiphasi/ing lha virtues ol thiat which is locally embedded}.
So lar, I have considered soit>o ol the mam conditions of rnudurnity. ctiwFly m nsgune
.....■ modern nalion-state. However, with the replication and difFusjnn ol ti«fm<ili >i|mr,
end modes of organization across boundaries, what emerged dunny the iwonmuli i nnluiy. and parlicularty in its second half, was a world-system of netion-stftte* bated un rnuiiy u1 the same premises TruS, given these emergirtg similarities acrom Itwi illi'lii! contemporary globalization became feasole. It would neilhrw Fmi ik.chioiim j*lly
i i ■ i.mi.I.- -.in    il-' iillv :»:■:■■:■ ;.il. • ',• :.-i'.:i|i.i cndur ncj laciprocal lies bulw ..... .....
iimilileiate 1nbal croups and the economic machinery o1 the indiisliirthyml.....innii-i
hni ^uti the inaeasinyly transnational disernbeddmg u1 commurnaitum, Mfflta, mid pr(wiii<:linn, such ties have t>ecome hoth viable and widespread,
tin (duns 119901 dislinguislies between two kir>d-j ol di^orriUoddiiiu mm fwnmni* Itm c:reation ol symrjoJic fflJtens and the establishment ol expfut i^.ifnun A iyi-i ni kynitiolic token is money, which Pavels independently ot persons unci ummIh I«i«I 111 (nereesrigly located to the ebstrect realm of cyberspace), a typical expert d .....mimic scionce, asaurrwd La be contextHndependant and valid ovflrywrwin
A-, mentioned, the increasing dominance of disermMtiiiunj......i........• ■ ■ -mil I'l""
un i^iiiu spatial range can fruitfully be seen as a movement Irorn ttwi cwtuiih' I1' II'"
rimtracl. From the interpersonal tn the institutional, and 1rom ih>< I.....I i-. 11■• .jli'iml
llii' intxl two diaplers, on acceleration and on standardization, ptnnenl IihUlmm ill iji. .i i. ihy.it inn that are closely related to disembedding.
Disem bedded Friendship
Aimiricen colleges and universities have a lone tradition of publishing an ennmii 1«c« in . <i, including names and mug shots of all students. A kind of directory, tta inlrmtioii ol IheiH) face books was to niuku >t du&iur roi aophurnuro studenis to yet acmHuritoil wild HitNiMi During the 1990s, lace hooks were increasingly turned into ontiim Kiit.iloi^jns. end in 2004, the Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg used matcnat 1mm Harveid face book*, some of it acquired by hacking into the prelected areas n1 hoiiM'h .it H.irviiul.
.......ii*■ .i nnjui uunipiuliuiiaivo uituloywu, moluding a txjmrrient 1wld Iri spiln ol
ttt^itl difficulties with Ihe Harvard administration, the site became an iir.l.inl succrm I .hi .in) ilin tulliiwiiic] yii.ir, llio rn.ilw<3rl( Wt»s ox:uaridtKl lo iricludu olden uiiivrirstlnw as VMll II nigh Khoolj, the Uier interface was developed lnvnd lli.M i^l mi mmiimi1iii(|
on pholos. aid in September /006, I^*k:«■!k>iiV i«. wn Imwil ImiIhy wnLopoiiml Kj the general public By autumn 2013 -loss than seven years aflat rtt lannctl—Facebuok fv>d more than a billion users worldwide.
Modeled on face-to-face social relationships, bm lifted out into thu virtual world of cyberspace, Facebook can be described as an ongoing, rtelernloriiili/trd cohvimnhIioii between people who somelimos know each other outside of Fact-book, whir mi sometimes aware of eacfi Other outside of Facebook. and who some tiroes know each other only throogh their online presence The range of subjects dealt with on Facebook parallels the breadth of social ar>d cultural life itself. A typical newsfeed on my own account would include a lew photos ol cute animals and chikiren celebrating their birthdays, a few political cartoons, news from environmental organizations and the gas industry in Australia (where I am doing research), comments on receni news in Norway and the Furopean Union, a lew links to YouTuhe clips, arid a handful of links to academic articles I know less than half of my Facebook friends personally, but I know something about them (such as their occupation, musical tastes, or authorship}.
What is peculiar about Facebook in this context is not only the 1act that it is totally disembedded and detemtorialized but that it is chiefly being used for rcemheddmg by sharing personal experiences, spontaneous thoughts, and judgments with friends, physical and virtual Ot course. Web 2.0 (where the social media play an important part} encompasses far more than Facebook—Twitter l.for rmcrobloggirig), Inslagrani (for photo sharmgl, and Unkedln (for professional networking! are interesting in their own right—but Facebook is the most powerful and widely used medium of this kind The reason may be that it otters possibilities to share the whole range ot human emotions with like-minded lor not! people anytime, anywhere, or it may be, as Damel Miller says, "the desire by nearly everyone on ou< planel to be on the same network as everyone else" 12011: 2171.
Neoliberal Economics and Disembedding
The term necXiberalism >s often used to describe a particular kind ol disembedded economic ideology and practice characteristic of the late twentieth and eaily twenty-first centuries. It is commonly agreed lhat it began in earnest with the policies of deregulation and pnvatization instigated in the United States and the United Kingdom around 1980, under Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher's respective leaderships. The structural adjustment programs implemented by the IMF (international Monetary Fundi in the so-called developing world in the 1980s and 1990s conlormed to the same principles, cutting down public expenditure and encouraging the development of competitive markets wherever possible This set of policies, believed to lead to • healthy economic development, is generally known as tho VVasniriuloii < uum-msus, as il was the outcome of an agroumeni Ixm^m ii Hi" IMI ii» W -iin ■' ml   i n> iin-
'*•   1 '••''•"•>• I "Vlll-M. Ml   11......Ml,. Ml. .1   |. nljl.il lll-l   ii   |   .i .     il 'I || |i ,11   | ||       | i,. „.,,,.,
■IhI-iii", nil .iii,. m| iM,. ,r, UMnv,;
Ntollberalism 13 .a theory ol political economic, practices that proposes that human well-being can best be advanced by liburalmq individual «...........ncnu.il
'        '' ' " 1  11   '    "II:. v, M. 11 ,11   11    li-i.l ,   Mil' 111    v.- :,!    i   :', 11 "1 i i..'- 'i r i v  ■ i' 1 ir 111 |il v. 111'
property rights, free markets, and tree tiade. Hie inrfu 0» the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to such practices I20O5: 2)
Neoliberal policies have n the subsequent decades been pursued by government* m most parts ol the world, fulfy or partly privatizing lormcrfy public enterprises, such e* railways and postal services, and encouraging an unhampered rnarkel economy lallhough restrictions are usually placed on imports in the form of tantfsl.
Tho nooliberal view is that the removal of hindrances to competition (sucti as import Unlls, strong trade unions, inefficient and buieuuciatic stale institution-:, 11nprnln.1i .|. m IrviiiM-ii will eventually lead 10 prosperity and economic growth ihrough (hit Workings nf the rnarkel principle. Such a view of the economy is, lor better 01 wuinn. 11 iti-jiinbudding vision since it sees the economy as lifted out of social lufaiknnn. InHowing its own logic and its own dynamic, driven by anonymous market toroeo.
Nuoliboralism has been criticized from many quarters Some have simply mgtwd tfwil it did not delrver the goods and that deregulation a "id slimmiricj ol Him imlilii hih i-h »nni countries like Argentina into a prolonged crisis Others have pomlad OUt t'mi m.-i .III ir Milium did not so much lead to increased prosperity as to increased lftei|ii#My
" ' ' .Ml-.-l-i   i J'   Ihn i:.........v .1' .. ■•iiu.-illv embed:!.  I tiMi! nl........,
wfmii cannot and should not be viewed as an abstract and virtual thing (Marl «1 a!
' " '     :|'" wn.i'il iii|,ni,.,' I'm ii-..|,i|- lrv :,1 .. hi .oii,:i.il v ;limi ,v nil)............v
Omi 1 :i mcflpt" casino capitalism." previously coined by the international irriatamMl |i 1  M   n I3H6. Wi.'   1 ■ •); i.■'i'i\. isi.:.I 1:.iii-Hi ihi;-financial crisis N-i|iiiiikii| hi •111111
Itiiiilly. some critics of neofcberalism argue that a deregulated global morkrtl a......
■ im.n,.;i with national demociaues iRodrik 2011). The reason is that national pnlitn im.n would have minimal space for maneuvering and tew effective tools lor social planiwiij hh a dnrogulated world oconoiny where the local fortunes depend on global procettea In spite of these and other objections and criticisms of neoliberalist ideology ami |.mii inn revaluation, deregulation, and Calls for marketization are still wideapreeil are uirwl the world The disemhedrted market economy is a key feature of contemporary glntmli/ation, although—as will be made iricruusirvyly dear in later chapter*—II •neountors resistance, and alternatives to it are being developed.
The Gated Community as a Form of Dlsembedding
0 .....1111 liM',lui',t.....11 Muknul wKliilytjy uiImm -.ih:i..I.j<j.nI s. .nilhfo|.Ml.ii.|i-.l-..
Oiind not least geographers Ihe tarm gated community, oliiwi umhI in in m mum.
1 !■■ ■.. Ill III ',  ,1 ■ ..........IH.M    *l..l|l I-   ||    .1.. I.I.I       ■... .||IV  ;ry  ,, |,.v,|Im  ■ ,* ...,|V  , n|l,t„,Mv
and closed oil. usually physically hum iim s,jiiouri<linu, inly Phi |icnnj*n uili.iliinrvg tha gated community Are economically privieged and haw closed oM thiw local area m order to control thai; interaction with the surroundings, seen as threatening and dangerous Nalmally. the gated community is a feature or ewes thai arc strongly class-divided Inhabitants of the gated community have their own infrastructure, whully or partially; they sand the»r chrtdren to private schools and buy imported goods in expensive shcps. tn an analysis of ine development of a gated community. Of fortified enclave, in Managua, Nicaragua, Dunnis Rodgers (2004: 1231 dascnhes them as "disconi lected worlds that are ihe antithesis ot public space, in thai they constitute a withdrawal from the tabue of the city, leading to its fragmentation* The social form of the gated community leads to the exclusion of others from formerly shared spaces and limits the interaction between the enclave's inhabitants and outsiders, tt definitely contributes to a fragmentation o1 the oty and also has consequences lor me political life in that the very notion of a shared public space is challenged Inhabitants of gatBd communities consume pretty much in the same way as middlB- or upper-class citizens in rich countries, they watch cable television and communicate online from home Their integration into the world economy is indisputable—many wnrk in international agencies or transnational companies—but their level ut participation in the demesne puW'C sphere is debatable and often very insignificant. The Spread of gated communities throughout the poorer countries—R*o de Janeiro, Nairobi, Johannesburg. Santiago de Chile. Guatemala City, and so on suggesls not only a disembeddincj of an urban lorm from its physical location but also the emergence of a global middle class. transnationsHty integrated through srnnod ideas, practices, and lifestyles, but with a weakening tie lowards tne local and domestic.
This example suggests a development that is oc*nrJemeniary to and sgmfies the opposite of the example of the fourteenth Chilean province: while the Internet and increased transnational interaction can serve to reintegrate daspora Chleans into the imagined community of the nation, the growth of gated communities in third-world cities signrl ies me detachment of groups, which are physically located to the nation-state, from it.
Critics of Disembeddmg
An especially grim interpretation of disembeddmg processes sees thern as resulting in liagmemation, alienation, and anonymity, ultimately removing every trace of the local and pamcular. In an original essay on non-places, Ihe anthropologist Marc Aufle (1392) describes a condition he labels suptNnioderivty Ira surmortemifol, whirh continuously produces uprootedrioss and altenalmn because it obliteiatos and neglects historically rooted places imbued with particularity Aiige's rwrvplaces are Inchonless and lack resistance They communicate ihrnogjh a ruoTmentaty ptdgm language devoid ol particular experiences. Ho wriles that wi' liv« in n wnrhl whnm ■ -ue ■
porn in a clinic and dltw in <i luwpilal, wfmin
ifcihiin......'..Hip   |HOll1lMHUl llnili'l i li.liri-. iilul («11*11
a— luxurious Of
infugen camps, slums toon In In* tf*nii*»»lmil  " wlin.1i .mi m i i.iimlitiim of
|n. iiii.ini. ill idn ,iy| wllOlir il IHitWiii* I' 1 l>' .vhiitii-. lit -i | li..;|i-llii'l |iy r <t . ill  ii,ill,pin i.ilu.ii wlui h .11" ,-ll'iu • IWtllfcliyK, Wfvnm I lie million ir.m  id ' .I r -| l| ii i
i mitrii's, AIM:; and i.nislit i.tnlv < .irrinv inn hi-, tiausaclions without a word, a worM wtMim everything encourages limiilv individuality, the transition, the provisional nnd timifjoiary. (1992: 100-101, my translation!
Ni tNi Bbsiiact, generalized world described by Aug6, the local and peculiar is lost Amjri's countryman Paul Viriho (199G, 20OOI goes even further, in seen 13 disurubodiJiinj fjrooesses as heralding the death of ovil society In Vinlio's view, a main cause of social
■' f>"- ni 1.....     .i-.d 111 ■ - nation is contemporary communication n ■: l-m .i:n iv Wtwirn.i'.
•ihuii of ihe disembedding communication technologies, notably the book and Mm n«»W'i|i.i|m'i. woiu irnporlanl for the creation of civil societies by creating skuud frames • • •••• • iico fin people who would 1 evei meci physically lAndersori |M1 i \w.\\\ tin
1 iiiiiiu'i|ir-.i.iiy, I'ausnational. and instantaneous commumcdtiC-i 1 technologies fsutii a;i Ifw Internet) dissolve it m Vririho's v»ew. He desenbes a world where people no longiir tmmi to—ot even want to—meet their neighbors, where they an- entertained en I mi. .11 •■: 11 lii    ,dinj wliiini ■ :i :■• 1 • 111. ■ 11. ■, 1:-h ■ vvil-i oU-i r- s a so ncriMMiKily ..uliui ikiliiminrmlirtid, disembedded, and deiached from ongoing social I1I0. As a ineurt, Viniii. n.,in-, thai the everyday conversation about society, the little ....>u<m■<<
tnd 1:1 inversions taking place in discussions about ;niyl'urq hum spoil' in i......•
Ii. ii   iw.iy I •!•■.. m v I'n' 1: -: 1 -1 r ■ 1. ■. 11 :11 -      ',iv. r|y r::  onger creates Ci'MnS I ii)i i'. I. H villi
uiiim actions.
Hum. is in the social sciences a long tradition ol criticizing modern societies, oml ihii in.i-ii ihu features we have described as r*semberjding processes, for (lliMiintmi) 1    1 I.- nid reducing the conditions 1oi existential security, intimacy, serf-rfllwmiai, #ntl
Niiluuoirvy. Most ol the leading pioneers of social theory, including Man, I "udl.....
and fimmes, contrasted the abstract, large-scale, industrial societies of their own .i.v
Willi 1110 concrete, small-scale, agricultural societies that liad preceded Hum '.....- < > 1
il.*.......juments can be refound in contemporary debates ahout glnhalizalion. wfuuh in
In a OaVtasn sense just modernity writ large, or. in the woids of Ar|un Appadurai 1199fi>.
•imply "......ifimty at taige'' However, the era o1 gkiba mixfernity is in irnptniaiii
wayn different from the modernity defined and described by the sociological classics Nhi ihly 11 in economy and communications have become increasingly globalized—or ajotemlnrialized—without a similar development in politics. The "democratic rifilir.it" n< i|l. '11.1I1 ration is a much debated topic (cf. Held et al, 20051, and in the view of the 1 mi. 1 ho national public, and political spheres are being marginalized Some call lof a m 1 nr 11111 HMiirnj ol national power, while olhers argue in favor of transnational govoirmncii (Jhfuugh international organizations and regional entities, like the European Union Yol, Olhers have laith ai the potential of grassroots movements thai is, conizations from lirihiw .r- .illi-rii.i'ivi • wjyy ul iidlutfucing both local and transnational politics
IfMtiuyh presenting some o< ihe disembedding rneohanisriis of modeimty at some
ItHHjOi. Iln-. iJuplm I r. -.Ii'ivvi   'ii.-a 1 i;nl<.|ri|.....i, il y i.lli:<i,ill,'Hli:.|| is .1 i.iiivnl<i|iriliHi|
,.l,   .,|| .{„.-. i ,. j  iii.-   llli|ll..|l.lllit.ll   .1     im!   iJ|-,-.itii|r„|l.......i   ,,   miihi'.   Ill    ii'.....lt.|.il:|l.il|
processes, which have created atoslnn r Mirmtmy mwv hm r«v»»uinjly n.n .h.iIkih.iI m lhair oriyuaigness.
L>«emtiertding can tie defined as "me 'hliing out' of social relations 1rom local coo-texts a: ime'actior and their restructuring across indefinite spans of time-space" Disembedding refers to a main trajectofy of globalisation—namely, Ihe increasirigly abstract character of communication and objects, whereby their origin becomes obscured and neir c jrrency mcve and moic widespread.
Writing (often in the form of printrigk money, clock 1ime, and staoderdiseri measurements are some o1 the most important di&embertdmg mechanisms in modern society.
The disembedding mechanisms ol contemporary global or transnational systems ru#y on electronic information and communication technology (ICII for their efiicacy. Critics o1 contemporary cisemboddir-g see the "lifting out' of social relations as i recipe for alienation and fragmentation.
(i-ddans, Anthony (IBM th»mm> IrMirM Htm UtobtHrtlion ts Resfupinr/ nor t iws London: RnutlmJun fhi* 4i » rmm|WH:t oriel mlormm book, based on a lecture series. higMghtlng       Importanl aapects of disambeddrng and giohni modernity but empheililnu tfiw iKMiinw Mparts ot gJobafc/ation. such as human rights. Ihe spread ol tomlniam. «nd ceamopoMan ideas
Questions
In which ways docs disembedrtjog occur as detemlorianaton? (jive some examples and discuss the consequences.
Mention llree main tormsof delerritorializationthet ere integral to modem ay, and irxiice:e how they are necessary conditions for contemporary globahzalion. In what way ooes the author see musical noiaiion as connected to giotiaiiíanonř Do you agree?
How can nationalism be said to be a product of the same forces that am shaping ylubaiiíation'
What are some ol Ihe main differences between conlernporary globalization and the modernity of the nation-state?
Further Reading
Bauman. Zygmunt (1399) Globalization—Th& Human ČO^Sťsjuerřces. New York: Columbia University P-ess Written by the famous Polish-English sooal theorist kw 1nr his theoretical analyses ol modernity and poscmodernity, this book describes new terms of inequality, surveillance, and risk rusulliiig Ikimi iiyhler integration.
Gellner. Ernest (19901 Ptotign. Sword, Book Chicago: University ol Chicago Cress There are many books 1ry«>a to oxpIhim |||ff transition from t»H»t In mridorri
society, and this is among the very best T>m> .iiiirwii konkn nl lumíku • i.........,«
such B5 lechnoloyiciil otViriOHVi unit |hi|iiiIji1kXi UMWlh I i'll I.....Im»|il.n i|r*w|
emphius on writing wnd soanMw HuriuM