In this paper, we seek to define the globalization from the identification of a series of social mechanisms through which it acts directly on the individual and collective behaviors or, still, on the way of thinking, on faiths, on identities, on the forms of institutionalization, etc. What constitutes the specificity of globalization is exactly the fact of its being a social phenomenon shons in the whole planet. Will the specific mechanisms characterizing the operation of the globalization be applicable in the same conditions in the societies that present strong differences, like North and South societies? Different mechanisms, linked to the reinforcement of international econo-mical competition and its consequences on the system of social protection, or, still, linked to the diffusion of norms and of political practices in the context of globalization, will be approached afterwards. In a more systematic way, four scenarios convergence, divergence, hybridization and recomposition of the international hierarchies will be pre-sented in the context of a comparative analysis of the effects of globalization in North and South.
globalization; international comparisons; social mechanisms; development