Displaying the distinctive combination of narration and philosophy for which he
is well known, this new book by Peter Sloterdijk develops a radically new accoun
t of globalization at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The author take
s seriously the historical and philosophical consequences of the notion of the e
arth as a globe, arriving at the thesis that what is praised or decried as globa
lization is actually the end phase in a process that began with the first circum
navigation of the earth D and that one can already discern elements of a new era
beyond globalization. In the end phase of globalization, the world system compl
eted its development and, as a capitalist system, came to determine all conditio
ns of life.
Sloterdijk takes the Crystal Palace in London, the site of the fi
rst world exhibition in 1851, as the most expressive metaphor for this situation
. The palace demonstrates the inevitable exclusivity of globalization as the con
struction of a comfort structure D that is, the establishment and expansion of a
world interior whose boundaries are invisible, yet virtually insurmountable fro
m without, and which is inhabited by one and a half billion winners of globaliza
tion; three times this number are left standing outside the door.