Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1148096 in Books
• Published on: 1998-01-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

From Amazon.com
What does it mean that McDonald's has become an integral part of daily life throughout East Asia--so much so, in fact, that many Asians have ceased to consider the American hamburger chain "foreign" at all? The five scholars who contribute essays to Golden Arches East have taken a novel approach to cultural anthropology. Call it hamburger historiography, perhaps, but their analysis of McDonald's ascendancy in the East has much to say about both the corporation itself and the changing values of Asian societies. Despite widespread criticism of McDonald's as a symbol of global homogeneity and environmental degradation, not all of these changes have been negative. In Hong Kong and China, for instance, McDonald's has actually contributed to improving standards of bathroom cleanliness and table manners, according to the authors. And the transformation has cut both ways; McDonalds itself has been forced to adapt to local culture and tastes. In studying how McDonald's has been assimilated into Asian societies, Watson et al. provide a fascinating portrait of cultural accommodation, compromise, and change.

From Library Journal
From a historical perspective, McDonald's Ray Kroc may be viewed as the latest in a line of foreign rulers who conquered Asia. From Japan to South Korea to Taiwan, Hong Kong, and, most recently, China, the ubiquitous Golden Arches proclaim the victory of American hamburger culture. But is McDonald's the vanguard of a process of globalization? The five anthropological case studies gathered here by editor Watson in this absorbing, accessible study suggest a more complicated answer than yes or no. They show that, partly because of its own localization strategy and partly because of the consumers it targets, McDonald's quickly assimilates to the culture of the countries where it operates even as it contributes to modernizing changes in those diverse Asian settings. In particular, McDonald's is no longer an exotic import but part of the local milieu. Here is that rare academic study that belongs in every library.?Steven I. Levine, Boulder Run Research, Hillsborough, N.C.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Along with Coca Cola and Microsoft, McDonald's is ranked among the top five multinationals with the greatest presence in Asia. The fast-food giant has often faced hostility abroad as its critics charge it with everything from cultural insensitivity to economic and environmental imperialism. At the same time, McDonald's has proved wildly successful with foreign consumers, especially younger ones. Editor Watson and his five contributors acknowledge the concerns but do not address them head on. All six are anthropology professors at various universities, and their interest is in McDonald's as a cultural phenomenon. Looking separately at Tokyo, Taipei, Hong Kong, Seoul, and Beijing, each author considers demographic and ethnographic distinctions in how local consumers react and take to McDonald's products, service philosophy, and marketing tactics. They also investigate how the company has adapted its own way of doing things to local tastes, customs, and attitudes. Some may argue that this is misplaced scholarship, but anyone who will admit to ever having eaten under the golden arches will find this study fascinating. David Rouse