Introduction
In the book under analysis, the author introduces cross-cultural evaluation of consumerist trends, particularly expansion of the famous fast food chain McDonald’s in East Asia. In particular, the researcher puts forward the statement that Golden Arches stand for something more important than food consumption.
Rather, McDonald’s has become a cultural and global symbol correlating with contradictory meanings and associations that the world’s known company develops across various economies. The fast food chain is more than food; it also a means of connecting to various societies. More importantly, it has shaped a new vision of pop culture in Asian cultures.
In particular, the expansion of the Golden Arches networks has contributed greatly to development and advancement of the popular culture to the next level. The restaurant network has envisioned a new attitude to life and communication, as well as has introduced tangible changes to East Asian dietary habits.
While discussing cross-cultural influence of McDonald’s expansion, the authors highlight the evident difference between such concepts as transnationalism and globalism due to their contrastive purposes. In particular, McDonald’s is confined to global trends because it pursues to create a new global culture under which all societies and nations would be united by communication and media.
Due to the spread of fast food chains all over the world, the global culture becomes a reality in which people envision Golden Arches East as a part of Asian culture. The globalization process, however, distorts the genuine meaning and role of culture in society. As such, Asian societies undergo simultaneous changes owing to the impossibility to alienate Asian culture from the outside influence.
While focusing on Hong Kong’s culture and external environment, the author insists that the region can be considered “the quintessential postmodern environment, where the boundaries of status, style, and taste dissolve almost as fast as they are formed”i.
In fact, the global trends imposed by Golden Arches symbolism poses threat to local cultures because of the attempt to create globalized perspectives shaping new concepts and antinational traditions. Moreover, McDonald’s stands at the core of consumption culture formation.
Many economies are engaged with fast food chains development because masses of consumers who are ready to adjust to the new consumerist patterns. The Golden Arches strongly correlate with the standardization and automation modes introduced to the food industry.
Methods Used to Explore Book’s Key Arguments and Theses
Data Considered to Analyze the Arguments
In the book, the author emphasizes the impact of McDonald’s culture as a means of connecting various cultures through reference made to anecdotal situations and real-to-life cases of people visiting McDonald’s fast food restaurants and describing their experiences. At the beginning of each chapter, the author applies to personal accounts and makes the corresponding conclusions afterword to draw the reader’s attention.
For instance, while exploring the shifts in Chinese dietary habits, the author resorts to personal recounts of the residents of San Tine village about the meals they used eating in McDonald’s. The accounts, however, were not confined to mere description of types of dishes.
Rather, the reflection was extremely vivid and could be compared with the experiences that a person receives while attending a very refined and respectable restaurant. Being overwhelmed with the food experiences, many people visiting fast food in Hong Kong have become dependent from the American-style consumerist patterns, which are not associated with taste preferences only, but with the cultural and symbolic meanings that this food has for the Chinese
. The real-to-life story about the importance of food consumption ideologies is supported by the author’s reflections on the importance of transnationalism and fast food industry expansion. In particular, Watson argues, “the people of Hong Kong have embraced American-style fast foods, and by so doing they might appear to be in the vanguard of a worldwide culinary revolution”ii.
At the same time, the scholar insists that globalist trends of food consumption do not have a tangible impact on local cultures. It is impossible to distinguish between local and national cultures because transitional processes have become part of the Chinese culture. The Chinese culture has outlined further trends in commercialism and consumption.
While analyzing empirical evidence and tracing historical origins of fast food integration, the author, nevertheless, stresses that McDonald’s does not become the major reason for standardization and automation of food production. Moreover, Chinese dietary habits have been shifts to a new pattern of life in the country.
Although GAE was associated with new behaviors and consumerist culture, the main reason for cross-cultural transformation was management. Specifically, Chinese managers do not consider fast food as the invention of the Americans. Most of meals have acquired Chinese colloquial names; Chinese youth has used referring to American snacks as to common lunch activities in Hong Kong.
Due to different culturally predetermined perceptions, Chinese have identified GAE concepts with their traditional outlooks on meals and snacks. Despite differences in food preferences, McDonalds did introduce slight changes to dietary habits in Hong Kong.
For instance, by recounting the story of Mr. Ng, the owner of the Hong Kong fast food chain, the author successfully explains the consequences of cross-cultural interaction, as well as how Americanized meals have integrated into an ordinary life of individuals.
While describing the private case of managing McDonald’s in Hong Kong, the author critically asserts that personnel of the fast food restaurant “…made the transition from an exotic, trendy establishment patronized by self-conscious status seekers to a competitively priced chain offering “value meals” to busy, preoccupied consumers”iii.
Apart from personal accounts, the chapter focuses on statistics and surveys underlining the presence of discrepancies between the ideological filling of American McDonald’s and that located in Hong Kong. Though the Chinese managers have borrowed the ideas from Western fast food industry, the cultural patterns of local consumers have remained unchanged.
To underline the differences in cultural and social perceptions of fast food industry, the author refers to a cross-cultural analysis of custom, traditions, and trend in serving people. For example, the chapter explores the differences in perceiving hospitality, which is reflected differently in Chinese society. In such a manner, the author places an emphasis on the importance of correlating food choice and national identity.
In other Asian countries, such as Korea, McDonald’s acquires a new symbolic and cultural meaning, which predetermined by the desire of Korean people to be both nationalistic and global. In this respect, food consumption culture is not associated with the concepts pursued with GAE, but with the unique patterns these concepts shape within a particular society.
While describing the consumerist trends in China and Korea, the author manages to succinctly and consistently define identical patterns of perceiving McDonald’s within the context of historic and symbolic representation in both cultures. To explain the issue, the author argues, “Koreans’ attitude toward American fast food vary with their gender, economic condition, and political viewpoint”iv.
Therefore, it is hard to persuade Chinese and Korean people that eating McDonald’s meals are not part of their food consumption culture.
The analysis of cultural influences and changing perceptions has revealed author’s valuable contribution to the discussion of international patterns in commerce, as well as how local societies are triggered and represented within this context. The chapters dedicated to the analysis of food habits in China and Korea has put forward the significance of social messages that food industry expansion introduces.
In addition, the main strength of interpreting commoditization in Asian region lies in author’s attempt to contrast and compare the way various Asian societies perceive Americanized patterns of consumption.
Weaknesses of Evidence
Although many explanation shave been provided for trends in globalization and transnationalism, as well as for their impact on the development of American patterns of consumption in East Asia, the author fails to introduce generalized and logical conclusion from the proposed references to other researches and personal observations.
Representing McDonalds both a globalized trend and a signifier of free market initiatives, the author fails to differ it from another concept of GAE that is more associated with a “local” institution.
Evaluating the chapters
Despite the lack of transparency and accuracy of exposition on the investigated topic, the reader will definitely understand the features and characteristics of GAE. While using persuasive evidence, the author provides an account on various Asian societies assimilating global trends in consumption and fast food industry.
In addition, the chapters provide strong parallels between the Western and Eastern food cultures, as well as their obvious differences, that are not lied in menus, but in the social and cultural messages that they deliver. Through use of different names, Asians convert definitions and concepts accepted in American culture and use their own associations. For instance, Koreans cannot consider Hamburger as a snack, but as a meal.
Thus, confronting different culture, fast food industries faces serious cultural and ethnic challenges. Due to the fact that more meanings assigned in a cross-cultural environment do not contribute to the popularity of American food cultures, which poses a threat to the actual idea of McDonald’s consumption concept.
While reviewing the habits, behaviors, and attitudes of Asian societies to fast food centers, the author has made interesting assumptions. In particular, Watson notes that fast food restaurants are regarded as leisure centers, particularly for youth who visit these places for communicating and interacting.
The principle of using McDonald’s for other purposes than eating meals is frequently observed across cultures. In this respect, the chapters provide examples of visiting fast food centre for celebrating various events and organizing various meetings. The priority, therefore, is not given to the menu anymore.
Analysis of Counter-Arguments
Overall, the presented examples, cases, surveys, and author’s personal observations prove that the expansion of Western culture and fast food chains have not undermine the local cuisines, traditions, and authentic preferences in consumption patterns.
Regardless of the homogenous trends of the globalization process, the author skillfully manages to introduce anthropological theories to examine exotic peoples and practices and shed light on the peculiarities of behavior with regard to the consumerist trends. In addition, the chapters present early historical studies investigating the history of McDonald’s development.
In addition, the author discusses people’s lifestyles and views them as consumers. Addressing such East Asian cities as Hong Kong and Seoul, the author highlights possible biases and preferences influencing the system of global production. Specific attention is paid on the detachment of GAE from its Americano origins, as well as assimilation of McDonald’s culture in Asian societies.
The localization process is explained by different experiences that consumers face. In addition, the genuine symbol of McDonald’s food production is under the threat as far as Asian societies are concerned. In particular, the author provides examples of consumers treating the Big Mac as a symbol of American imperialism. At the same time, growing numbers of Korean children celebrate various events at fast food centers.
In addition, Watson stresses that the localization process bears one-way character because the corporation also needs to adjust to new environments to achieve profitability. The chapter shows how consumers, along with McDonald’s management, have changed their fast food centers into leisure cafes, meeting halls, and afterschool clubs.
The contributors, therefore, have paid closer attention to the outcomes of these activities for education, socialization, and family organization. What is more important is that the chapters conclude that there is no connection between fast food boom and development of child-centered consumer culture in Asian region.
Modernization and Modern Transformations in East Asia
Provided the process of modernization is associated with global development, the author sufficiently covers the complexities and challenges of modern trends in consumption.
Addressing the main contributors in studying food production industries, the author notes, “from a cultural point of view, McDonald’s, like many other products of industrialization and modernization, is treated by most Americans as simply a necessity of modern life”v.
Chinese, by contrast, observe the Big Mac has been transforming into an exclusive cuisine because McDonald’s has not just become a place where people order meals. The complexities of social interactions and perceptions of the ‘Americanized’ approach prevented the Asian societies from accepting modern introductions.
Because fast food chains reflect the globalization process, it has also become a modern industrial power and focus of modern business activities. Within local communities, McDonald’s has become the main source of revival of local businesses and economies.
In addition, the author accentuates that the integration of GAE also triggered the development of modern habits and skills among youth. In particular, the author has researched, “parents make every effort to encourage their children to learn all kinds of skills…that are supposedly necessary in the modern world, and will save money to meet their children demand for food…”vi.
Therefore, children visiting fast food centers are engaged into modern patterns of communication, and they strive to become part of popular culture.
Apart from improvement to the communication and culture, Asian societies have also been affected by modern trends in managing fast food industries, which contradict significantly the existing administrative strategies.
In particular, the author argues, “by combining methods of preparation and hygiene with traditional Chinese cuisine, they could recapture Beijing’s fast food market from the control of foreign chains”vii. Taking McDonald’s as a model of management by local communities and governments allow Asian societies to build up a bridge to global culture.
Bibliography
Galgano, Michael J., Arndt, J. Chris, and Raymond M. Hyser, Doing History: Research and Writing in the Digital Age. Boston: Thomson Wadsworth, 2008.
Watson, Watson. Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. UK: Standford University Press, 2006.
i James Watson. Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia. (UK: Standford University Press), 10.
ii Ibid., 79.
iii Ibid., 87
iv Ibid., 139.
v Ibid., 53.
vi Ibid., 66.
vii Ibid., 74.