Southern California and the World

As underscored by the emergence of the Los Angeles school of contemporary urban studies, the Southern California experience—its popular culture, politics, economics, spatial structure, ethnic diversity, technologies, and lifestyles—has an impact and relevance well beyond it own immediate geographic setting. This book explores the parallel and interlinked constructions of identities, imaginations, and activities in and between Southern California and the world beyond. In particular, the volume shows how the local and global are interfused with one another, making it evident that the connections involve more than a process of globalization.

Approaching the subject from three perspectives, the volume considers how the Southern Californian way of life—as reflected through entertainment, politics, legal institutions, technology, cultural trends—influences the lifestyles of other parts of the world; how Southern California, as a primary repository of peoples and cultures from throughout the world, absorbs and transforms this living diaspora of foreign cultures into something that is uniquely Southern Californian; and how Southern California functions as a major nexus within a global network of linked activities and the special roles of Southern California within the context of these global networks. The book provides a panoramic and stimulating perspective on the multiplexed connectivities between global phenomena and the Southern California experience.

ERIC J. HEIKKILA is Associate Professor at the University of Southern California's School of Policy, Planning, and Development.

RAFAEL PIZARRO is a Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Policy, Planning and Development at the University of Southern California.