Fast Food and Globalization

Paper Summary:

Untangling the economic, political, cultural, technological, political and social forces that allow companies like McDonald's to prevail is a complicated task. This paper argues that the success and continuing growth of fast food companies is the consequence of advanced capitalism with broad international and domestic implications. Support for this argument is drawn from the consequences of the pro-corporate bias in legislation, agribusiness, cultural imperialism, privatization, unfair labor and trade practices. The paper concludes that the only hope for thwarting these cumulative consequences is a shift in public consciousness.

From the Paper:

"Food is not merely a commodity to be exchanged, but it is a cultural tradition (Jameson 57, Ritzer 87, and Schlosser 240). However, culture is largely shaped by those who are in power, and in an American-style capitalist economy money is power. Though I applaud Greenpeace activists Helen Steel and Dave Morris for making the world take note of fast food's evils when McDonald's sued them for libel, it is simply not enough (Klein 387-391). Revolution is the only adequate concept to describe the magnitude of social consensus in and within all nation-states that will be required to reign in fast food giants. American fast food corporations and their multinational kin are archetypal capitalists, exploiting the proletariat at home and abroad through dehumanizingly routinized and poorly compensated labor, cultural erasure and the destruction of the land which raises its beef (Ritzer 88). "

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Burger and fries a la francaise: French lessons for the world's biggest fast food firm." The Economist, 15 Apr. 2004: http://www.economist.com/markets/bigmac/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2598872.
• International Monetary Fund Staff. "Globalization: Threat or Opportunity?" IMF.org, Jan. 2002, http://www.imf.org/external/np/exr/ib/2000/041200.htm.
• Jameson, Frederic. "Globalization and Political Strategy." New Left Review, July-Aug.2000: 49-68.
• Klein, Naomi. "A Tale of Three Logos." No Logo. NY: Picador, 2000: 364-396. "McDonald's 4Q Earnings Miss Expectations." CBSNews.com. 29 Jan. 2005: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/01/29/ap/business/mainD87TDQS80.shtml.
• "McDonald's Global Momentum Continues, August Comparable Sales Up 3.4%." McDonald's Corporation Press Release, 9 Sept. 2005: http://www.rmhc.com/corp/news/fnpr/2005/fpr_09092005.html.

More papers on Fast Food and Globalization:

• Essay # 90752 : "The Responsibility of the Fast Food Industry"
• Essay # 59564 : "The Fast Food Industry"
• Analytical Essay # 53075 : "Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation"

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