The Globalization of Nothing

Citation

John, J. (2005), "The Globalization of Nothing", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 167-168. https://doi.org/10.1108/07363760510596002

On the face of it, The Globalization of Nothing is a curious and enigmatic title. The preface acknowledges the challenge in finding a title for the book. As Ritzer promises, the “counterintuitive” and “counterfactual” ideas in the book are presented as a challenge to conventional wisdom about globalization. The main ideas are presented in the realm of consumption.

The author employs the term “nothing” to mean “a social form that is generally centrally conceived, controlled, and comparatively devoid of distinctive substantive content” (p. 3). For example, supermarkets, chain stores, all sorts of shopping malls, and airports, which are all involved in contemporary consumption, really have the same forms and structures. Ritzer argues that globalization of products and services provide very little distinctive content in different locations. He offers four types of nothing: non‐places, non‐things, non‐people, and non‐services:

Thus, people around the world are spending more time in non‐places (the shopping mall, the Las Vegas casino) and with non‐things (Old Navy T‐shirts, Dolce and Gabbana dresses), non‐people (the counter people at Burger King, telemarketers), and non‐services (those provided by ATMs, Amazon.com) (p. xi).

The concept of “nothing” can be best understood when placed in relation to “something.” Ritzer urges the reader to think of a general something‐nothing continuum and more specific sub continua: places and non‐places; things and non‐things; people and non‐people; and services and non‐services. With this understanding, Ritzer's key contribution in thought can be summarized in the argument that he makes as to why it is easier to globalize that which is centrally conceived and controlled and much more difficult to globalize that which is locally conceived and controlled. He offers the following rationale:

… that which has content also offers much that has the potential not to fit into, even to conflict with, aspects of other cultures around the world; the more the content, the greater the chance that some phenomenon will not fit or be accepted (p. xii).

Ritzer also divides globalization into two sub‐processes: glocalization and grobalization. Glocalization is the interaction of the global and the local to produce something new – the glocal; and, grobalization is the process in which growth imperatives push organizations and nations to expand globally and to impose themselves on the local. Ritzer's analysis foresees the death of the local, which threatens cultural innovations among other inadvertent and unfortunate consequences, and drives the world into become less diverse.

Ritzer notes that the ideas and methodology he uses in his book might offend some scholars, but that the benefits of striking up a vigorous debate around his ideas are rewarding, especially to social scientists.

The chapter titles are just as intriguing as the title of the book. They are:

1. 1.

   Nothing: a brief (no need to be lengthy) introduction: the concept of “nothing” as Ritzer uses it is intriguing and needs some clarification. This chapter provides a discussion and explanation with examples of what the term means, especially in how it contrasts with the term “something”. Four major subtypes of the something‐nothing continuum are also specified: place and non‐place; thing and non‐thing; person and non‐person; and, service and non‐service.

2. 2.

   Conceptualizing nothing (and something): here, Ritzer attempts to place the concept of “nothing” in the global context. He adds five sub‐continua for the something‐nothing continuum: unique and generic, local geographic ties and lack of local ties; specific to the times and time‐less; humanized and dehumanized; and, enchanted and disenchanted.

3. 3.

   Meet the nullities: this chapter is where the non‐intuitive terms of non‐places (and places), non‐things (and things), non‐people (and people), non‐service (and service) begin to take shape. The reader ought to get a good understanding of the relationship between these forms of “nothing” (and something).

4. 4.

   Globalization: the hybrid terms of Glocalization and Grobalization are explicated very well in this chapter. The examples of McDonaldization and Americanization lend themselves very well to what Ritzer is trying to offer.

5. 5.

   Grobalization – glocalization and something‐nothing: this chapter crosses the “globalization” concept and the related hybrid concepts introduced by Ritzer with the “nothing‐something” continua and the subtypes of place, thing, person, and service.

6. 6.

   The ultimate example of nothing and its globalization? Ritzer now applies his “theory” to the internet in a very clever way, making this chapter a very interesting reading with examples of what he calls “large‐scale consumption sites on the internet”. (p. 117).

7. 7.

   A few (by necessity) concluding thoughts on nothing (and its globalization): this chapter argues for trends in the future and the dangers and benefits in each of them. For example, Ritzer's argument that there is an increase in “nothing” and a decline in “something” follows from the development of his “theory.”

8. 8.

   Concluding thoughts on globalization (and nothing): just as in the previous chapter, he concludes with the trends of what he terms grobalization and glocalization. Again, the prognosis follows from the development of his “theory”.

The author provides ample references and citations of the literature to build his case. The writing is clear and easy to read, especially since the concepts may be hard to grasp at first. For those who are interested in the sociological implications of the breaking down of national boundaries in business and trade, this should be a very interesting read. There might be sections in the book that are tedious to grasp and retain with the four subcontinuua and five subtypes of “nothing” and the two types of globalization (with three subtypes of one of them!). The book does come across as written from an American perspective – the examples are generally from the American consumption culture. But, then the US is the world's largest and richest market with the largest number of global players. Ultimately, Ritzer does leave you with something to think about.