Arjun Appadurai is a socio-cultural anthropologist with specializations in globalization, public culture, and urban studies. His major accomplishment has been the construction of anthropological frameworks for the study of global media, consumption, and migration. His current work focuses on poverty, violence, and social inclusion in mega-cities with a special focus on Mumbai (India).

He contributed the concept of the informal economy to development studies and has published widely on economic anthropology, especially about money. One reflexive theme of his work is the relationship between movement and identity in the transition from national to world society.

Arjun Appadurai is a contemporary social-cultural anthropologist focusing on modernity and globalization.