Book excerpt: Globalization and Social Change takes a refreshing new perspective on globalization and widening social and spatial inequalities. Diane Perrons draws on ideas about the new economy, risk society, welfare regimes and political economy to explain the growing social and spatial divisions characteristic of our increasingly divided world. Combining original argument with a clear exposition of the underlying processes, Perrons illustrates her points through a series of case studies linking people in rich and poor countries. She places strong emphasis on the socio-economic aspects of change, particularly changes in working patterns and living arrangements, and makes reference to the new global division of labour, declining industrial regions and widening social divisions within what she terms 'superstar regions'. Wide in scope, this new study also focuses on changing family structures, the feminization of employment, migration, work life balance and new conceptions of gender identity and gender roles. Diane Perrons' enlightening book concludes that divisions by social class and gender are in some ways becoming more significant than divisions between nations, and suggests that new systems of social and economic organization are necessary for social peace in the new millennium.