be referenced against the coordinates of the world and not simply against
limited geopolitical segments ( Garrett and Robertson, 1991: ix).

Likewise, globalization is seen as a process in which action by or within
one unit is increasingly constrained by the necessity to take into account
in some manner actions or implications for action of other units on a
worldwide basis ( Simpson, 1991: 31). The result is an interpenetration
and interdependency of economic currencies, ownership, and markets
accompanied by the growing power of multinational corporate conglom-
erates; the decreasing functional importance of national sovereignties;
dissemination of the technology necessary to create a media "global vil-
lage" capable of instantaneous information and image reception; and a
parallel progressive erosion of the authority of religious symbol systems
that claim monopolies on ontological world views. Such developments
are obviously unprecedented in human history.

Historical documentation and theorizing (albeit with a deterministic
bent) regarding the processes of globalization has been assembled by
Immanuel Wallerstein (e.g., 1989, 1980, 1979, 1974). This process has
been taking shape since the Age of Exploration, the Protestant Refor-
mation, and the dawning of the industrial revolution. While one could
argue as to the extent that the institutions of any particular nation-state
are being subsumed under a global umbrella, it is indisputable that such
overall process has affected countries and cultures on virtually every
continent. In this macro scheme of social, political, economic, and cul-
tural earth shifts, religion is given variable emphasis. Wallerstein's anal-
ysis of the world system entails the view that secularization is a unilinear,
nonrecursive fact. Thus it takes for granted the eventual demise of
organized religion as a significant social force. Accordingly, this per-
spective sees religious resurgence as a deviant occurrence in the broad
sweep of history ( Swatos, 1989a: 2).

Alternately, Roland Robertson, who more than any other sociologist
has suggested that the religious factor can play a critical role in global-
ization, believes the unilinear secularization hypothesis both premature
and false. The expansion of nation-states' spheres of operation under
the guise of enhancing the quality of life inevitably leads the polity to
cross over institutional lines into religious or sacred realms ( Robertson,
1985b: 348).

There are built-in limitations to the secularization process that even-
tually set in motion the dynamics to enable religion to assert itself as an
important social fact. Accordingly, the globalization process itself raises
religious and quasi-religious questions because it is increasingly con-
cerned with matters traditionally associated with the religious domain
( Robertson and Chirico, 1985: 239, 225). We agree with this latter sug-
gestion, but there is still more to the story of the resurgence of funda-
mentalism.

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