Hytrek, Gary 1963(?)- (Gary J. Hytrek)

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Hytrek, Gary 1963(?)- (Gary J. Hytrek)

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1963. Education: California State University at Bakersfield, B.A., 1985; University of California at Los Angeles, M.A. (Latin American studies), 1988, M.A. (sociology), 1990, Ph.D., 1996.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Sociology Department, California State University, Long Beach, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA 90840. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

California State University at Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, sociology department, associate professor, 2002—.

WRITINGS:

(With Kristine M. Zentgraf) America Transformed: Globalization, Inequality, and Power, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to the Journal of Third World Studies.

SIDELIGHTS:

Gary Hytrek attended California State University at Bakersfield, where he earned his undergraduate degree in political science. From there he continued on to the University of California at Los Angeles, where he obtained a master's degree in Latin American studies, followed by a second master's degree in sociology, and ultimately a doctorate in sociology as well. In 2002, Hytrek joined the faculty at California State University at Long Beach, where he serves as an associate professor in sociology. His primary academic and research interests focus on the sociology of globalization, including the restructuring and community development tied to overall globalization, the effects of globalization on democracy, and social change in Latin America. In addition to his academic duties, Hytrek has written about various issues in Latin America, with a particular focus on developing nations, contributing to such academic publications as the Journal of Third World Studies. He is also the author of America Transformed: Globalization, Inequality, and Power, which he wrote with Kristine M. Zentgraf.

In an essay for the Journal of Third World Studies, Hytrek analyzes the relationship between labor and social development in both Chile and Costa Rica. A reviewer for the Poverty Net Web site addressed Hytrek's opinion regarding the idea that faster economic growth in a nation leads to increased social development, and that the growth itself is spurred on by the availability of a competitive marketplace and a hands-off government that allows the process to foster itself naturally. This concept is based primarily in a neoclassical theory of economics, and Hytrek points out that in certain instances, such as in Chile and Costa Rica, the free market itself causes social issues within the country and that privatization of particular aspects of the economy can also help encourage social development.

In America Transformed, Hytrek, along with Zentgraf, examines the ways in which globalization has affected the world socially, economically, and politically, and the new issues that arise as a result of this global marketplace and the shrinking of the world as a whole. The book questions whether globalization is the best course or the only option, and how the different inequalities present in various nations may be improved or deepened through the globalization process. A listing for the book on the Oxford University Press Web site remarked that the book "provides powerful insights into the contested dialectical relationship between global and local forces."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, October 1, 2007, R.S. Rycroft, review of America Transformed: Globalization, Inequality, and Power, p. 323.