Cities in a World Economy presents sociologists with a new perspective on the study of urban sociology. The decentralization and privatization of the world's economies has radically altered such things as the organization of labour, the structure of consumption, and the distribution of earnings in ways that have yet to be fully realized. In a world economy that is truly more global than it has ever been, the Second Edition of this popular textbook addresses the need to account for the global economies' increasing influence on the social structures of cities.