MCDONALDISATION

The effect of the McDonaldisation movement on national culture



The effect of the McDonaldisation movement on national culture

The McDonaldisation in France emerged out of the cultures of food that surround regional cuisines in France. The immediate motivation was growing concern about the potential impact of McDonald's on local food cultures. The first French McDonald's had opened in the North-East. It was quickly followed by a second in Paris. This latter restaurant, because of its location in the famous Piazz di Spagna, gave rise to a series of protests and these protests provided the spur for the founding of Slow Food in relation to the McDonaldisation. There was a lot of public debate at the time 1986 about standardization, the McDonaldisation of the world. Up until then, any opposition was split in two. On the one hand there were the gastronomes, whose focus was fixed entirely on the pleasure of fast food. The other tradition was a Marxist one which was about the methods of food production and their social and historical implications. (Bocock, 1993)

The Ritzer in relation to the Weberian theory, the formalization described is embodied within the structure of the bureaucracy, hence this institution being the paradigm of choice for Weber. Bureaucracies in the mind of Weber were the quintessence of modern social organizations as well as capitalism (1946). The theory of bureaucracy developed emphasis upon the fixed characteristics presents within an institutionalized organization - obstinate offices; hierarchy; credentials and training and general standards transferable to all, Weber (1946). These characteristics are used interchangeably by Ritzer (1993) and form the foundations for his work. Ritzer accepts the degree of passé present within the work of Weber (1905) which consequently results in a change of paradigm from the dated bureaucracy to that of a 21st century phenomenon, fast food giants McDonalds. Moreover, Slow Food is a nonprofit, member supported organization whose aim is to raise awareness of the social, environmental, and economic impact of fast food choices founded by grassroots efforts in 1989 in France. The movement is based on the principle of eco-gastronomy that spreads the awareness of the link between the environment and the production, preparation, and consumption of the fast food. Embedded in Slow Food's philosophy is the belief that individuals have a fundamental right to pleasure as well as a responsibility in consumption. (Capatti, 1999)The slow food movement began to organize in 1986 as a result of a protest against the building of a McDonald's in the Piazza di Spagna just below the Spanish Steps in France. The term slow food was used as a natural counter to fast food, as well as to what organizers felt was an increasingly fast life. Poet Folco Portiari was charged with writing the Slow Food Manifesto, first published in Italy in 1987. Slow food became an international movement in 1989, when the manifesto was presented and signed at the International Slow Food Congress in Paris. (Bourdieu, 1984)

Critics of McDonaldisation claim it to be an elite organization one of wealthy ...