Week 10: “Whose City Is It? Globalization and the Formation of New Claims”

“Globalization” and “global economy” are catch-all buzzwords that are often used to explain away a whole set of complex processes that link people and places around the world. In this reading, Saskia Sassen directs our attention beyond a mere and often deceptive description of “global cities” and asks why cities in par- ticular are places of relevance to globalization and, consequently, what is the relevance of this strategic role to the everyday lives and politics of the people who live and work in cities. A focus on cities exposes “glob- alization at play” – that is, it permits us to see how the global information economy is embedded in the micro- economies and the diverse cultures of the city. In the globalized economy emphasis is given to circulation of capital, the invention and circulation of financial products, and the free flow of information. But Sassen examines other, less apparent aspects of globalization. For example, the multiethnic population of large cities is both a product of and a contributing factor to economic globalization; one localized dimension of economic globalization is the exploitation of a disadvantaged labor force comprised primarily of immigrants and people of color. Likewise, Sassen shows us how cities are bound to each other by the dynamics of globalization and how these connections may allow for a new form of local politics that transcends national borders. The transnational movement of migrants has disanchored the traditional sources of identity (ethnicity, country of origin, etc.), thus allowing for new forms of community politics and claims toward communal and individual social rights. The global city, then, is a contested terrain of multiple scales, where the labor participation of the dis-advantaged has become intrinsically tied to the activities of high-salaried professionals.

Saskia Sassen is the Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology and co-Chair of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University and the Centennial Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Her research and many publications focus on the areas of globalization, immigration, and global cities.