Reflections on Investigating the Complexity of Social Cohesion in the Era of Globalization

The sustainable development of global citizenship needs to prioritize the growth and empowerment of its social network to promote social inclusion and equal opportunities, especially for groups at risk of social exclusion. Thus, the aim of this book, “Reflections on Investigating the Complexity of Social Cohesion in the Era of Globalization” is to describe and analyze the effects of globalization on social cohesion and to emphasize the need for a change in social intervention under the auspices of the human development paradigm in symbiosis with the new concept of locally advanced marginality that from a polyhedral perspective allows the analysis of contexts of social vulnerabilities. Likewise, this work intends to stimulate and promote an eco-social space for the development of social welfare and the individual’s quality of life. On the other hand, the educational intention of this research study lies in analyzing how the construction of social spaces influences the reproduction of advanced marginality. This concept expresses the increase in inequality in urban contexts, indicating a functional disconnection at the macro-economic level. The main characteristics of marginality are conceived as a multidimensional phenomenon, taking as reference the political, economic, and social axes along with the levels (macro-meso and micro), that is, the macro-level of the social and economic structure showing the effects of post-Fordist transformation processes and globalization. Starting from an in-depth analysis of how marginality is constructed –-and deconstructed– tools for constructing places are proposed and starting points for creating new cohesion models. In short, the book is based on five chapters, in which the theme of social cohesion is glimpsed through the advanced marginality approach to offer methodological tools for research and intervention in vulnerable and collective neighborhoods at risk of social exclusion. This scientific work is embedded in SDG 10 (Reduction of inequalities). The present book is primarily aimed at researchers, postgraduate students, and practitioners in sociology, social work, urban planning, public policy, and development studies.