Globalization and Los Angeles

Abstract

In some respects, Los Angeles is the most global city in the world. It does not have the highest foreign-born population share (although it is close), but it has the most varied. Hollywood, and everything that it means, probably has the most dominant global cultural penetration. The twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach vie for supremacy with Hong Kong and Singapore. On the other hand, not one Fortune 500 company is headquartered there; in terms of the “world city hypothesis” criteria, it fails miserably. How can we explain this paradox? According to Kevin Starr (the premier historian of California), Los Angeles is on the frontier of global urban life. Or, if we believe the views of Ed Soja, Allen Scott, Mike Davis and others, it is dysfunctional, with a bifurcated income distribution that is a direct result of globalization. The paper will explore some of these issues.