The Global City: New York, London, Tokyo

by Saskia Sassen

Overview

In her classic book The Global City, Saskia Sassen tells how New York, London, and Tokyo became command centers of the emerging global economy and, in the process, underwent massive and parallel changes. The book reorients the way we think about how cities shape and are shaped by globalization and provides lessons for the future.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691264721
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	09/09/2025
Series:	Princeton Classics
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Saskia Sassen is Professor of Sociology and of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. Her other books include Guests and Aliens, The Mobility of Labor and Capital, Losing Control, and Globalization and Its Discontents.

Table of Contents

	List of Tables	xi
	Preface to the New Edition	xvii
	Acknowledgments	xxv
1	Overview	3
Part 1	The Geography and Composition of Globalization	17
2	Dispersal and New Forms of Centralization	23
	Mobility and Agglomeration	24
	Capital Mobility and Labor Market Formation	32
	Conclusion	34
3	New Patterns in Foreign Direct Investment	37
	Major Patterns	37
	International Transactions in Services	44
	Conclusion	63
4	Internationalization and Expansion of the Financial Industry	65
	Conditions and Components of Growth	66
	The Global Capital Market Today	74
	Financial Crises	78
	Conclusion	83
Part 2	The Economic Order of the Global City	85
5	The Producer Services	90
	The Category Services	92
	The Spatial Organization of Finance	110
	New Forms of Centrality	122
	Conclusion	126
6	Global Cities: Postindustrial Production Sites	127
	Location of Producer Services: Nation, Region, and City	130
	New Elements in the Urban Hierarchy	140
	Conclusion	167
7	Elements of a Global Urban System: Networks and Hierarchies	171
	Towards Networked Systems	172
	Expansion and Concentration	175
	Leading Currencies in International Transactions	187
	The International Property Market	190
	Conclusion	195
Part 3	The Social Order of the Global City	197
8	Employment and Earnings	201
	Three Cities, One Tale?	201
	Earnings	221
	Conclusion	249
9	Economic Restructuring as Class and Spatial Polarization	251
	Overall Effects of Leading Industries	252
	Social Geography	256
	Consumption	284
	Casual and Informal Labor Markets	289
	Race and Nationality in the Labor Market	305
	Conclusion	323
	In Conclusion	327
10	A New Urban Regime?	329
	Epilogue	345
	The Global City Model	346
	The Financial Order	355
	The Producer Services	359
	Social and Spatial Polarization	361
	Appendices
A	Classification of Producer Services by U.S., Japanese, and British SIC	367
B	Definitions of Urban Units: Tokyo, London, New York	369
C	Population of Selected Prefectures and Major Prefectural Cities	373
D	Tokyo's Land Market	374
	Bibliography	383
	Index	435

Editorial Reviews

"[A] high-powered and at times horrific book. Sassen shows how dangerously city life has been affected by the influx of employees of the multinational firms which move into major cities and virtually colonize them, riving even greater wedges between the rich and poor."

The Observer

"A multi-disciplinary tour de force that should be read not only by regional economists but also by urban geographers, sociologists, and planners."

Development and Change

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1992

"This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities."—-Scott Lash, The Times Higher Education Supplement

"A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world."—-Peter Hall, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

From the Publisher

An exciting and persuasive work. It incorporates a herculean research effort.

Journal of the American Planning Association - Susan Fainstein

The implications of Sassen's research . . . are sobering.

Times Literary Supplement - Rudolf Klein

The most detailed and sophisticated anatomy yet published of the functioning of the new producer services sector in the global economy.

Urban Affairs Quarterly - Mark Levine

A landmark study in the political economy of cities.

Newsline - Anthony King

A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world.

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research - Peter Hall

This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities.

The Times Higher Education Supplement - Scott Lash

An exciting and persuasive work. It incorporates a herculean research effort.
— Susan Fainstein

Journal of the American Planning Association

The implications of Sassen's research . . . are sobering.
— Rudolf Klein

Times Literary Supplement

The most detailed and sophisticated anatomy yet published of the functioning of the new producer services sector in the global economy.
— Mark Levine

Urban Affairs Quarterly

A landmark study in the political economy of cities.
— Anthony King

Newsline

A very significant book indeed. . . . A systematic detailed analysis of the three largest urban economies in the advanced world.
— Peter Hall

International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

This is brilliant stuff, both in its broadness of sociological scope and its voluminous collection of data from a vast number of sources in the three cities.
— Scott Lash

The Times Higher Education Supplement