Social theorists Lemert (Wesleyan U., Connecticut) and Elliott (U. of the West of England) present interview material illustrating the disorienting effects of globalization on personal life. Arguing that the new individualism is linked to the growth of "privatized" worlds in "detraditionalized" contexts, they introduce their central theme of the tensions between individual identity and global realities--including shifting boundaries between private and public lives, and felt pressures to reshape (sometimes literally) the self. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)