"The Lexus and the Olive Tree": An Analysis
A reading of Thomas L. Friedman's book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree yields what some consider a thorough and highly accessible summary of the theoretical economic force of globalization. Friedman first reinforces the idea that globalization is a quantifiable, currently operating and currently successful economic system. He portrays it as the new international system which has replaced the world economic system established by Cold War politics, insisting that a single global market has been created by the integrating of capital, technology and information which he calls "the global economy." While it is certainly true that domestic economies and politics have been influenced by growth in technology, Friedman's reading of globalization as a viable and self-contained "system" is nanve in its Utopianism, simplistic in its assumptions about the past, present and future, and simply incorrect in its analysis of the present world economic landscape.
Friedman's book has been celebrated by some reviews (in The New York Times and The New Yorker) on account of his simplistic use of the "Lexus" and "Olive Tree" extended metaphor. While this device works to unify the book's content, it is a simplistic and superficial rendering of the global economy predominantly as a provider of material rewards (the "Lexus"), at the expense of the organic "Olive Tree" realities of culture, geography and community. In minimizing the unique cultural identities and aims of nations to a derogatory metaphor, Friedman implies that cultural tradition has only an aesthetic and primitive beauty, but no inherent economic value รป the "true" yardstick of validity for Freidman.
While ignoring the precious individuality among un-globalized nations, Friedman presents a Utopian vision of the global community. But as Gangaly (2004) points out, in "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" there is no intrinsic value in cooperation, ...