To most of us, globalization—as a political, economic, social, and technological force—appears all but unstoppable. The ever-faster flow of information across the globe has made people aware of the tastes, preferences, and lifestyles of citizens in other countries. Through this information flow, we are all becoming—at varying speeds and at least in economic terms—global citizens. This convergence is controversial, even offensive, to some who consider globalization a threat to their identity and way of life. It is not surprising; therefore, that globalization has evoked counter forces aimed at preserving differences and deepening a sense of local identity.
Yet, at the same time, we increasingly take advantage of what a global economy has to
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He also underestimated the power of globalization to transform entire nations to actually embrace elements of global capitalism, as is happening in the former Soviet Union, China, and other parts of the world. He was right, however, about the importance of branding and its role in forging the convergence of consumer preferences on a global scale. Think of Coca-Cola, Starbucks, McDonald’s, or Google.
More than 20 years later, in 2005, Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, had much the same idea, this time focused on the globalization of production rather than of markets. Friedman argues that a number of important events, such as the birth of the Internet, coincided to “flatten” the competitive landscape worldwide by increasing globalization and reducing the power of states. Friedman’s list of “flatteners” includes the fall of the Berlin Wall; the rise of Netscape and the dot-com boom that led to a trillion-dollar investment in fiber-optic cable; the emergence of common software platforms and open source code enabling global collaboration; and the rise of outsourcing, offshoring, supply chaining, and in-sourcing. According to Friedman, these flatteners converged around the year 2000, creating “a flat world: a global, web-enabled platform for multiple forms of sharing knowledge and work, irrespective of time, distance, geography
When it comes to globalization, everyone may have a different vision of it’s outcome. For Marcelo Gleiser, the author of “Globalization: Two visions of the Future of Humanity”, a completely globalized world may result in a dystopia. In contrast, Jeffrey Wasserstrom, the author of “A Mickey Mouse Approach to Globalization” and Tanveer Ali, the creator of “The Subway Falafel Sandwich and the Americanization of Ethnic Food” may think of globalization as other cultures sharing each other’s components to interact on a new level and spurring a more “open-minded” (Ali 27) individual.
Identity, and more specifically, global identity, is an often-contested topic in contemporary literature on both globalization and new social movements. Critics of globalization cite the loss of localized cultural identity, especially in developing countries, due to the proliferation of homogenized Western ideals through advances in communication, as evidence for globalization’s destructive nature (Tomlinson, 2003). Tomlinson (2003) argues that rather than destroying concepts of personal identity, increased interconnectedness may actually strengthen identity, referencing Manuel Castells’ argument that collective identity acts in opposition of capitalist globalization and asserts individuals’ control over their own lives (Castells, 1997; Tomlinson, 2003).
to the effectiveness of this “global economy,” or in terms of the subject of this essay, the modern
In his article “Globalization: Two Visions Of The Future Of Humanity”, Marcelo Gleiser states that there are two possible outcomes of the process of globalization. At first, he predicts that world can turn into a true global village due to the development of technology, traveling, trade and Internet. However, Gleizer explains that it is not easy to foresee unknown and questions how much this “scientific utopia” (8) is realistic, when considering politics and culture. Then, he argues that globalization cannot be achieved due to “evolved tribal nature” (9) of humanity, even though it is implied as the process which will diminish any barrier between various cultures. He states there is no doubt that trade and travel barriers will disappear by
The world is not a large and strange place anymore. The world is a place that is interconnected and intertwined. The world has become from a place that each country and their peoples are separate and isolated to a place that each country and their peoples are part of a global network. Thanks to globalization this is occurring. Globalization is the ‘international integration” or ‘de-bordering’ – “a number of highly disparate observations whose regular common denominator is the determination of a profound transformation of the traditional nation-state” (Von Bogdandy 2). Globalization is connecting different people from different cultures and backgrounds together. More and more corporations are entering new foreign markets to sell their
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).”
In Thomas L. Friedman’s “Globalization: The Super-Story”, he examines the features of globalization from various aspects and how it helps people better understand 9/11 events. He claims that globalization is the new improved system formed in place of the old “cold war system”(102), and through the patterns of which, people observe today’s world in an integrated way. Simple short phrases, organized structure, colloquial language, and punctuation are techniques Friedman uses to create a reader-friendly, convincing essay. To begin with, Friedman uses simple short phrases to emphasize his points. He starts with an enthusiastic term “big believer” (102), which establishes the colloquial
Constant change and a flat, global competitive market landscape were described by Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, as triple convergence and was a result of the ten flatteners. Friedman also stated that in “Globalization 1.0, countries had to think globally. In Globalization 2.0, companies had to think globally to thrive, or at least survive. In Globalization 3.0, individuals have to think globally to thrive, or at least survive.” (Friedman, 2007) The concept of needing individuals to think globally and thrive in the market led Friedman to travel and report on various educational cultures across the world. Friedman was determined to find “the right stuff” to make the youth in future generations
The article, “The Changing Nature of Globalization in Our Hyperconnected, Knowledge-Intensive Economy,” written by Irving Wladawsky-Berger, takes a present day look at a 2005 book, “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Globalized World in the Twenty-first Century,” written by Tom Friedman. The two delve deeply into the burgeoning topic of globalization and the innovative, adaptive strategies necessary to keep up with the changing landscape of modern business. Both writers credit the fast pace, globalization path we are on to technological advances that allow everyone with a computer to be on a level playing field when it comes to competing, connecting and collaborating in the business world.
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
The World Is Flat is a visionary and insightful text written by Thomas L. Friedman. In short, the text brings about the study of globalization at its forefront. Moreover, Friedman analyzes the evolution of business and importance of information with respect not only to the 21st century, but with regards to the history of trade as we know it. It is from this study and understanding that Friedman engages in a detailed thought process as to how an institution, government, or individual can remain competitive in such a progressive environment. In summary, through engaging in the fifteen chapters and recalling the historical events used as evidence, one may arrive at more substantial conclusion as to how certain entities will remain ahead of
In part one of the book “The world is flat” Friedman discusses the competition of global knowledge in the world today and how it is steadily growing. There is a discussion of the ten forces that has flattened the world. These forces are: 11/9/95, the fall of the berlin wall, 8/9/95 the day Netscape went public, work flow software, uploading, outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing, uploading, outsourcing, and the steroids. Friedman comes to a conclusion of how he thinks the world may have become flattened through these possible ten forces that he feels may have caused the world to become flattened. The world may have become flattened through what Friedman calls a convergence or rather triple convergence, because there are three in particular. The first convergence explains how these flatters collaborated to create a global-enabled platform. The second convergence is the appearance of business skills and practices that make the flattners. The third convergence is the great sourcing out will re-arrange things that define us in this world.
There is controversy over when globalization began because there is no crystal clear start to globalization. Some people believe that globalization started when the Buddhist leader Chandragupta combined aspects of trade, religion, and military to create a protected trading area. Others believe that globalization began under Genghis Khan’s rule. The Mongolian warrior-ruler created an empire that had trade integrated into it. There are also some experts that believe that the rise of globalization was linked to 1492, the year Christopher Columbus made his first trip to the New World.
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
“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.