A Brief History Of The World Is Flat By Thomas L. Friedman

For some people, globalization is so feared it is synonymous with world destruction. In the end, for all we know, maybe this will be proven before it is over. In reality however, there are many good things that have resulted from globalization(1, Premise). Let’s for a moment focus on the economy, even though there are many other advantages that have been brought forward that will also be discussed. Many Americans do not appreciate how efficient our markets are, in this case efficiency in reference to supply and demand is number one. These efficient markets allow economies to grow. As many have learned in a global world, when one economy grows, it spurs growth in all the other economies

Contemporary globalization is an exceptionally multifaceted phenomenon and can be defined as "an intensification of cross-national cultural, economic, political, social and technological interactions that lead to the establishment of transnational structures and the global integration of cultural, economic, environmental, political and social processes on global, supranational, national, regional and local levels" (Huynen, Martens & Hilderink, 2005). The very nature of the American society has experienced insightful and compound changes due to globalization that has brought with it both new opportunities and risks. Similarly, the impacts of globalization

In Friedman’s “It’s a Flat World, After All”, Friedman in a trip Bangalore, India accidentally “encountered the flattening of the world”. The following paper will analyze “It’s a Flat World, After All” and the flattening of the world. To conclude the paper I will summarize my thoughts on the flattening of the world.

The world we live in today is going through enormous changes in economics, technology, culture, politics, etc. The effects of the changes are not so clear, since it is hard to predict how each sector would affect the other and how society will be affected. However, analyzing past and present occurrences provides some information for experts to interpret society’s reaction in the future to different transformations. Globalization can be seen as a process in which societies around the world come together and expand through the combination of different forces. This paper will explore the effects of globalization on US companies, US society and economy, and the implications for other countries in the post-industrial world.

Technology has made the world a smaller place. Recent innovations in jets, satellites, and computers have made communication across the globe faster. People are now able to travel to any destination they want in less than a day, so why can’t businesses travel as well? Globalization intends to answer that question. New technology has increased worldwide trade and investment by allowing more companies to trade at a faster rate. Thomas Friedman considers globalization to be “farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper than ever before” (9). Multinational corporations that have entered globalization can now trade their business wherever labor is the cheapest.

Thomas L. Friedman portrays, in “Globalization: The Challenge to America”, the American attitude, “Oh well, we’ll fix that problem when we get to it. After all, we’re just competing against ourselves.” As time progressed, this attitude only perpetuated into becoming more and more complacent, making America unable to take initiative and change outdated ways of thinking. Shirley Jackson expresses that “If left unchecked, this [quiet crisis] could challenge our preeminence and capacity to innovate.” America’s “quiet crisis” is the lack of STEM graduates such as engineers and other scientists needed to satisfy today’s work force. More problems America faces in the international competition are the ambition, numbers, and education gap that only seems to be getting bigger. Over the years of overcompensation, Americans have become significantly lazier, especially in comparison to those of a developing country. America is also not producing enough engineers to have the people to fill American jobs that could be outsourced to a more, qualified foreigner. America, after World War II, was established as a big power, through innovation and control. Now, America’s reputation has diminished as it appears that America is interdependent on these developing countries like India or China, who develops 70% of merchandise sold by Wal-Mart. Although, these developing countries are the ones producing and manufacturing the products designed and created by American businesses and corporations, these countries are trying to make the switch from being “made in” but also “designed

Globalization has led to a growing gap between those who have access and opportunities by which to thrive and those who do not. There are now 793 billionaires (as of 2009)—representing an essentially unimaginable amount of wealth. At the same time, there are millions of workers laboring in conditions we would likely consider inhumane, and doing so for starvation level wages. And still, there are those who do not even have access to jobs whose conditions are even worse. Globalization can benefit some but leaves other nation further and further behind.

In this chapter, Thomas Friedman looks at how cultures and societies will have to deal with and adapt to the changes that globalization brings to the way of doing business. It affects whole companies and individuals. He gives the perception of the world is flattening by comparing the Industrial Revolution to the IT Revolution that is happening right now. The flattening process was identified by Karl Marx and Frederich Engels in the Communist Manifesto, published in 1848. Marx’s writings about capitalism state “the inexorable march of technology and capital to remove all barriers, boundaries, frictions, and restraints to global commerce (Friedman 234).”

During the last decade of the twentieth century, the word ‘globalization’ has become an increasingly prominent feature of political, social, and economic discussion in academic and policymaking circles, as well as in the media. The processes and outcomes of globalization drew attention and debates that had one thing in common. The research shows that nearly everyone agrees that globalization is a trend that is changing the face of the world, and as a result the world society lives in a more ‘globalized’ world. Nearly two and a half decades passed since 1990s, and studies have been conducted to examine the causes and consequences of globalization. Moreover, nearly every person experiences some type of globalization and can testify firsthand the effects it has on their life, society, and the state. The analysis of the effects that globalization dynamics have on the world society indicates that globalization has a significant positive impact via spreading opportunities and wealth across nations, stimulating innovation and productivity, enhancing the economic development of poorer countries, and helping to improve living standards.

In Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat he presents his idea of the globalization of the world in all areas; from economic to communication with other countries. Friedman is a journalist from the New York Times and most of his work focuses on economic and technological innovations and advancements, and furthermore how they are associated to history. The ideas he presents in this book are both plausible and convincing. The main focus is whether the world is “flat“. The answer to this question depends on the readers’ political, economical, and technological opinions. Friedman does however present evidence in many situations where the globalization of the world is clearly evident. This essay will explore these different

Author Thomas L. Friedman analyses the technological advances that are creating a level economic playing field with previously disadvantaged countries rising in knowledge and wealth rivaling that of the United States and other world powers in the world. Telephone and computer technology, previously a stronghold only of developed countries, is now easily accessible and has been accessed and mastered by countries such as China and India, making these nations competitive. Friedman perceives the flattening effect as so insightful as to be compared in scope to the Industrial Revolution.

The chapter “The Age of Total War” in Eric Hobsbawm’s novel “The Age of Extremes” is broken into four sections in order to explore the time period of 1914-1945. This essay will explore the subjects and processes that are present in this chapter of Hobsbawm’s (1994) novel in a limited scope. The processes that will be discussed are how the zero sum game led to the total war of World War one; the desire for revanchism led to the existence of World War Two, the cost of World War Two led to the economic crisis and how the disaster these events caused resulted in the desensitization of human beings. Throughout this chapter, Hobsbawm (1994) frequently expresses a fear for human kind in both a literal and metaphoric sense arguing that people of

In view of Thomas Friedman’s work “It’s a flat world, after all”, the entire planet is turning into a global village due to a rapid growth of information technology. There are 10 major contributors, which were also named “flateners” by Friedman, that made the playing field level. Undoubtedly, current sophistication in technology has provided us great access to internet, a virtual platform where people are capable of communicating, sharing knowledge, or performing online activities. Globalization appears to have collapsed the concerns of space and time by outsourcing cheap labor from another continent to undertake the same task but with equal or better performance. To some extent, Friedman has brought about an

Across the world, globalization is one of the most significant aspects that has occurred over the last fifty years. It allows a country to integrate economically with other countries through a global network comprised of people, trade, and transportation. With the global landscape only becoming more intertwined, globalization and its inherent pros and cons seem to be here to stay. In many areas, global powers tend to lack in rectifying the negative aspects and only focus on the positive side. America, for example, is a leader in the globalization efforts, even though it has greatly effected job opportunities at home, widening income gaps, and an increased standard of living due to fluctuating world markets.

“Globalization is today's reality. Like it or not, the move to a world economy is a fact of life. At some point in the 1990s the process achieved critical mass and people started to sit up and take notice. Many were apprehensive.