Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia by James L. WatsonReview by: George H. LewisThe Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie, Vol. 24, No. 4 (Autumn,1999), pp. 571-573Published by: Canadian Journal of SociologyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3341798 .

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Book Reviews/Comptes critiques 571 Book Reviews/Comptes critiques 571

stigmatization forces. Finally, on the issue of "empowerment," Schissel's recommended solutions do not significantly relate to the underlying political economy, which he acknowledges as the root cause of moral panics and scape- goating phenomena. What would it take to create a "respectful egalitarian environment" (p. 116) - the one solution that hints at a structural overhaul - and is this really a feasible prospect? These reservations suggest the need for a more muscular Marxism, one that could connect moral panics against youth to structural features of society such as the labour market, and relatedly, to the

impact of policies of transnational corporations in the framework of economic

globalization. Schissel does not seem averse to this analytic direction, but he is

merely suggestive about it, which leaves his interpretation at a provocative but

symptomatic level, and now calls for more penetrating analysis.

University of British Columbia R.S. Ratner

James L. Watson (ed), Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Stan- ford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997, 265 pp.

Although food and foodways are central facts of social life, they have been examined relatively infrequently in sociology. Indeed, in works from Karl Marx to Talcott Parsons, the human need for food, social activities taken to meet that need, and the cultural meanings of food have largely been taken for granted - treated either as a peripheral consideration, or not examined at all. (Some few

exceptions include Georg Simmel's work on "The Sociology of the Meal" (1910), Norbert Elias' The Civilizing Process (1939) and Thorstein Veblen's The

Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)). In anthropology, although foodways are

traditionally given more attention than in sociology, again one is struck by the dearth of focal treatments of food and food related variables - even though the

pioneering work of Audrey Richards (Food and Nutrition of African Natives (1937)) and Margaret Mead ("The Factor of Food Habits" (1943)) are notable

exceptions. And then, of course, there is Claude Levi-Strauss and his infamous

culinary triangle! Happily, this has begun to change in both disciplines. Food has been taken

much more seriously as a social fact in the social sciences of the 1990's, and is now beginning to be subjected to much more focal investigation. Golden Arches East is a first rate example of this new attention - a multi-faceted anthropologi- cal examination of cultural implications and consumer reactions to Mickey D's in five East Asian cities: Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo. In a

project headed by James L. Watson and first reported on at the 1994 American

Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting, five scholars (Sangmee Bak, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Watson, David Y.H. Wu and Yunxiang Yan) each

stigmatization forces. Finally, on the issue of "empowerment," Schissel's recommended solutions do not significantly relate to the underlying political economy, which he acknowledges as the root cause of moral panics and scape- goating phenomena. What would it take to create a "respectful egalitarian environment" (p. 116) - the one solution that hints at a structural overhaul - and is this really a feasible prospect? These reservations suggest the need for a more muscular Marxism, one that could connect moral panics against youth to structural features of society such as the labour market, and relatedly, to the

impact of policies of transnational corporations in the framework of economic

globalization. Schissel does not seem averse to this analytic direction, but he is

merely suggestive about it, which leaves his interpretation at a provocative but

symptomatic level, and now calls for more penetrating analysis.

University of British Columbia R.S. Ratner

James L. Watson (ed), Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia. Stan- ford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997, 265 pp.

Although food and foodways are central facts of social life, they have been examined relatively infrequently in sociology. Indeed, in works from Karl Marx to Talcott Parsons, the human need for food, social activities taken to meet that need, and the cultural meanings of food have largely been taken for granted - treated either as a peripheral consideration, or not examined at all. (Some few

exceptions include Georg Simmel's work on "The Sociology of the Meal" (1910), Norbert Elias' The Civilizing Process (1939) and Thorstein Veblen's The

Theory of the Leisure Class (1899)). In anthropology, although foodways are

traditionally given more attention than in sociology, again one is struck by the dearth of focal treatments of food and food related variables - even though the

pioneering work of Audrey Richards (Food and Nutrition of African Natives (1937)) and Margaret Mead ("The Factor of Food Habits" (1943)) are notable

exceptions. And then, of course, there is Claude Levi-Strauss and his infamous

culinary triangle! Happily, this has begun to change in both disciplines. Food has been taken

much more seriously as a social fact in the social sciences of the 1990's, and is now beginning to be subjected to much more focal investigation. Golden Arches East is a first rate example of this new attention - a multi-faceted anthropologi- cal examination of cultural implications and consumer reactions to Mickey D's in five East Asian cities: Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei, Seoul and Tokyo. In a

project headed by James L. Watson and first reported on at the 1994 American

Anthropological Association's Annual Meeting, five scholars (Sangmee Bak, Emiko Ohnuki-Tierney, Watson, David Y.H. Wu and Yunxiang Yan) each

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:33:19 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

572 Canadian Journal of Sociology

examine the cultural impacts of McDonald's in their geographical area of academic study and expertise. Bookending these five geographically-specific analyses are Watson's lengthy introductory essay, "Transnationalism, Localiza- tion, and Fast Foods In Asia," in which he astutely weaves together the various

analytical strands spun by his researchers from their local data to form an

integrated - and at times provocative - theoretical picture of the cultural

impacts of globalization; and an afterword by Sidney Mintz, "Swallowing Modernity," which paints an even broader canvas by taking an historical look at the development of fast food as an alternative type of provisioning and the

global diffusion of moder Western servicing institutions such as McDonald's and their impacts in (especially) Asian societies.

Arguing against the "guardians of anthropological correctness" (vii), Watson contends that the now standard thesis of cultural imperialism, with its knee-jerk assumption of cultural control, just does not fit the data. McDonald's, he claims, has become a "local" institution in these Asian societies (or is in the process of

becoming such), from the invention of "Uncle McDonald" birthday parties at

neighborhood McDonald's in Hong Kong to the use of the Golden Arches as a romantic rendezvous by young couples in Beijing. Many Taiwanese, Watson

reports, are actually surprised to learn--if they travel off-island - that McDonald's is not a local institution. And some, even in the face of evidence to the contrary, continue to insist that it is. Such is not dissimilar to the account of

Japanese Boy Scouts who, upon arriving in Chicago, were surprised and

delighted to discover a "Japanese" McDonald's located there. In Tokyo, the Golden Arches also help solidify the Japanese cultural

construction of a mythic "America" - an image that acts as an alternative and "modern" social foil to their own traditional, hierarchical society; while in Seoul, nationalists react to McDonald's as a local symbol of foreign imperialism, thus

reinforcing their own pleas for preservation of traditional culture. In all cases - and many others documented in these fascinating studies-

McDonald's has been culturally re-defined to fit local values and culture - a

process driven primarily by the young people and children of these Asian societies. In many of these cities, consumers have turned their local Mickey D's into "leisure centers and after-school clubs" (37). Many have also become sanctuaries for women who wish to avoid male-dominated settings. As well, the

meaning of fast has cleverly been subverted in the process - referring here to the delivery of food, but no longer to its consumption.

This influence and change has, however, not been all one-sided. McDonald's, as part of a Western industrialized system, has also successfully introduced

queuing, self-seating, public friendliness, and a focal concern for hygiene and

public exhibitions of cleanliness (among other things) into local Asian cultures, as these essays also document. Thus, even if the evidence in this book ef- fectively challenges the uniform applicability of the cultural imperialism thesis

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:33:19 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Book Reviews/Comptes critiques 573 Book Reviews/Comptes critiques 573

- which it certainly does - the data still offer plenty of evidence of the

spreading cultural and social homogeneity that global positioning and the

marketing of transnational corporations bring, no matter how convincing their localization strategies may appear on the surface.

Tempered in all cases by true local sensibilities, these Golden Arches of the East - no matter their original "local" American origins - are now curious cultural mixes of global standardization and neighborhood tradition. Sorting out these culturally tangled webs of social meaning and experience is a fascinating and critical task, especially given the complex and far flung global interconnections of the world today - a task that the present study accomplishes wisely, and well.

University of the Pacific George H. Lewis

Viviana A. Zelizer, The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, and Other Currencies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997, 286 pp.

In his larger interpretation of history, Weber thought that the obverse of the

spread of rationality in everyday life was a process of "disenchantment." Simmel saw the ever more extensive use of money as both instrument and expression of this process. By facilitating exchange money was midwife to the birth and

spread of the market - a process, Simmel thought, that subverted the traditional ties within which, presumably, "enchantment" (and a lot of oppression) was vested. Marx associated money with the commodification of people and things, that transformed differences of quality into the differences of quantity expressed in finely divisible monetary values. In this entertaining book Zelizer takes on the broader claims of disenchantment and commodification that are associated, most notably, with these three heavy hitters.

At the conceptual heart of her argument is the process of earmarking. There are two main, related, facets to this. One is limits on the uses to which money may be put. The other is the attachment of symbolic importance to money, sometimes involving the modification of its form. What earmarking means in

practice is best illustrated with the three sets of examples, drawn from United States in the period 1870-1930, that comprise the bulk of the book.

First, there are the rules governing the use of money within families. If husbands are the main or exclusive source of family income the issue immedi- ately arises, what form of access to that income should wives have, and in what amounts? Into the twentieth century, Zelizer reports (p. 43), wives had no legal claim over their husbands' incomes. They depended on a settlement negotiated within the household. In the middle class in the earlier period this usually involved discretionary allocations by husbands - the dole, in response to wives'

- which it certainly does - the data still offer plenty of evidence of the

spreading cultural and social homogeneity that global positioning and the

marketing of transnational corporations bring, no matter how convincing their localization strategies may appear on the surface.

Tempered in all cases by true local sensibilities, these Golden Arches of the East - no matter their original "local" American origins - are now curious cultural mixes of global standardization and neighborhood tradition. Sorting out these culturally tangled webs of social meaning and experience is a fascinating and critical task, especially given the complex and far flung global interconnections of the world today - a task that the present study accomplishes wisely, and well.

University of the Pacific George H. Lewis

Viviana A. Zelizer, The Social Meaning of Money: Pin Money, Paychecks, and Other Currencies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997, 286 pp.

In his larger interpretation of history, Weber thought that the obverse of the

spread of rationality in everyday life was a process of "disenchantment." Simmel saw the ever more extensive use of money as both instrument and expression of this process. By facilitating exchange money was midwife to the birth and

spread of the market - a process, Simmel thought, that subverted the traditional ties within which, presumably, "enchantment" (and a lot of oppression) was vested. Marx associated money with the commodification of people and things, that transformed differences of quality into the differences of quantity expressed in finely divisible monetary values. In this entertaining book Zelizer takes on the broader claims of disenchantment and commodification that are associated, most notably, with these three heavy hitters.

At the conceptual heart of her argument is the process of earmarking. There are two main, related, facets to this. One is limits on the uses to which money may be put. The other is the attachment of symbolic importance to money, sometimes involving the modification of its form. What earmarking means in

practice is best illustrated with the three sets of examples, drawn from United States in the period 1870-1930, that comprise the bulk of the book.

First, there are the rules governing the use of money within families. If husbands are the main or exclusive source of family income the issue immedi- ately arises, what form of access to that income should wives have, and in what amounts? Into the twentieth century, Zelizer reports (p. 43), wives had no legal claim over their husbands' incomes. They depended on a settlement negotiated within the household. In the middle class in the earlier period this usually involved discretionary allocations by husbands - the dole, in response to wives'

This content downloaded from 62.122.76.45 on Mon, 16 Jun 2014 02:33:19 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions