Revivalism and the enclave society

Modern sociology has encouraged us to believe that social boundaries are disappearing and that the social world is a system of global flows and networks. This view of modern societies is associated with, for example, the work of John Urry, who has criticized mainstream sociology for its alleged focus on nation-states, and has advocated a new ‘mobile sociology’. He is clearly correct to draw our attention to the importance of global flows and networks as key features of the modern world. These global scenes are, of course, closely connected with what Arjun Appadurai has called a world of global ‘scapes’ or new sites of contest and cultural creation. These emerging global sites provide various opportunities for ‘grassroots globalisation’ or ‘globalisation from below’, where social actors can develop counter-globalisation strategies. Such political and cultural opportunities for action against the negative features of the global economy are associated with the idea of ‘new imaginaries’, that is, collective cultural methods of formulating a vision of alternative societies and practices