Major Sociocultural Trends Shaping the Contemporary World encompasses concepts and theories from multiple disciplines notably sociology, anthropology, international relations, and economics to examine the major sociocultural transformations of the modern world, their underlying causes, and their consequences.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1. Global Demographic Trends
• An Incredible Growth of Human Population
• The Diverging Growth Rates: Sub-Saharan Africa and India Are the Fastest Growing Areas
• Aging Populations: All Areas of the World Are Aging Fast, Except Africa
• Urbanization: 2.5 Billion Will Be Urbanized by 2050
• Global Migration
• The Demographics of Faith and Religious Denominations: The Revival of God
• The Languages of Present and Future
• Chapter 2. Globalization: Trends and Consequences
• Different Views on Globalization
• Globalization and the Changing Role of Nation-States
• A New Balance of Economic Power
• Pressure on Wages, Employment, and Social Welfare
• Living in an Age of Insecurity and Uncertainty
• The Decline of Interstate Wars and the Rise of Intrastate Conflicts
• Time-Space Compression
• Chapter 3. Culture in the Contemporary World
• Convergence, Divergence, and Cultural Mélange
• Diversity, Multiculturalism, and the Lack of Social Cohesion
• The Clash of Cultures/Civilizations
• Temporal Acceleration
• Short-Termism and Myopic Management
• Transformation of Cultural Values
• The Culture of McDonaldization
• Chapter 4. The Changing Landscape of Global Affairs
• A Multipolar World Order
• What Decline? Do Not Bet Against America, Yet!
• The European Union: An Economic Giant and a Political Dwarf
• The Rise of Nonstate Actors
• A Comeback of Nuclear Arsenals
• Chapter 5. The Rising Powers: China, Brazil, India, Russia, and South Africa
• BRICS: The Agreement on Disagreements
• China
• Brazil
• Russia
• India
• South Africa
• Chapter 6. The Environmental Degradation
• The Many Faces of Environmental Degradation
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• Air Pollution
• Global Warming
• Water Pollution
• Land Degradation
• E-Waste
• The Drivers of Environmental Degradation
• The Consequences of Environmental Degradation
• Chapter 7. Challenges to Security and Governance
• The Hybrid Warfare
• The Rise of Asymmetrical Warfare
• Cyber-Attack and Cyber-Espionage
• The Global Terrorism
• The Fragile and Failing States
• Transnational Organized Crime
• The Maritime Piracy
• Chapter 8. The Giant Corporations
• An Incredible Concentration of Power and Wealth
• Doing More with Less: More Revenues and Fewer Employees
• Stifling Competition: The Winner-Take-All Capitalism
• Eroding the State Sovereignty and Diluting the Nationhood
• The Rise of Emerging Markets’ Multinationals
• Chapter 9. The Inequality, the Wealth Concentration, and the Super-Rich
• The Rise of Economic Inequality in America
• The Economic Inequality across the World
• The Causes of Inequality
• The Consequences of Inequality
• The Plutocrats or the Global Super-Rich
• The Popular Myths About Wealth and Poverty
• Chapter 10. The Global Health and Well-Being
• The Increasing Life Expectancy and Aging Populations
• The Increased Incidence of Noncommunicable Diseases
• The Risks of Pandemics
• The Rising Cost of Care and Shortage of Health Care Workers
• The Transformation of Social Insurance Systems
• References
• About the Author