Göran Therborn 
The World [PDF ebook] 
A Beginner’s Guide

Prologue.

Introduction: Humankind and Its World.

I. Why We Are Who We Are: A Socio-Cultural Geology of Today´s World.

The Rock of Civilizations.

The Sinic.

The Indic.

The West Asia.

The European.

The sub-Saharan African.

The Family-Sex-Gender Systems.

Sediments of Six Waves of Globalization.

Modernity and Its Pathways.

A Humanity of Multi-Layered Cultural Agglomerations.

II. World Dynamics: The Drivers of Humankind.

Modes of Livelihood: The Down and Up of Capitalism, and the Rest.

Population Ecology and the Ending of Modern Ecological Emancipation.

The Ethnic and Religious Dynamic of Recognition and Respect.

Politics of Collective Power: State Apotheosis.

Culture: Modernism Globalized, Accelerated, and Chastened.

Channels of Operation.

Global Processes.

1. Flows.

Trade.

Capital.

People.

Information.

Matter.

2.Global-national entanglements.

3. Global Action.

3. Global Action.

National Processes.

Performance.

Population movements (demography).

Distributions: Global, National, Sub-National.

The Growth and Resilience of Nation- States.

III. The Current World Stage.

Scenography: the World Space.

The big players.

1. The Uneven Field of Nation-States.

2. Corporations.

3. Missions and Movements.

IV. Our Time on Earth: Courses of Life.

Birth and Survival.

Childhood.

Schooling.

Labour.

Youth: Sex and Culture.

A Sexual Geography of the Young World.

Marriage and the end of youth.

Adulthood.

Where to Live: The Urbanization of the World.

Making A Living: Classes of Work.

Class Formations of 21st Century Capitalism.

Making A Living: The Rich and the Poor.

Adult Enjoyment : Leisure and Consumption.

The Ruling & the Non-Ruling Generation.

Old age.

Retirement and Pension.

Living Arrangements.

An Ideal 21st Century Life-Course.

Death and After.

Conclusion : How We Got Here, and Where Are We Going?

How Did We Get Here?

Where Are We Going?

Notes.

Bibliography.