Some answers are to be found in 'Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia', edited by James L. Watson, Stanford Uni Press 1997. Five Contributions of anthropologists on what McDonalds does and means in East Asia. Especially the essay of Yan Yunxiang on Beijing is valuable. Altogether the book seems a bit too optimistic and naive. People have said that Watson and his contributors have been sponsored by McDonalds for giving such a positive account of the golden arches.
- - besides: I went to McDonalds last week, the first time in 2 or 3 years, and still found it disgusting. Now they have everywhere all kinds of PR ideas to make it seem healthy, organic, and even open days where you can watch how the food is prepared. I don't wanna see that. Cheers to Kerleone:))

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0804732078/103-2584406-1943016?v=glance

Hi there vernant, my point of view follows instantly ;-)

My advice is not to see things too simple. Don't forget that companies tend to go the easy way, they try to serve markets or niches where they can earn money or where the think that is a demand.
The idea of a company transferring goods and demand for it all together into a culture is too simple. Just think of yourself and ikea: are you feeling colonized by the ikea here in munich? Or do you think that it could be useful and interesting for some people?

There are two problems regarding the fear of commercial spread of culture. First of all, a McDonalds or Ikea in Asia or Germany is never the same as it was in Amerika/Sweden, only on the surface. It may be the same food, but all the social behaviour of the people is still a special one. I tend to say provocative: If I as a german go to Mcdonals, McDonals is necessarily german as it's german culture to go there. My understanding of Mcdonalds is german. My needs and goals of going there are german. Me liking it is german.

The other point is, that the fear of commercial spread of culture bears some kind of "positive colonialism" inside. The idea of us protecting the natives against our bad cultural influences. This gives me a vision of an asian standing before a McDonalds in Munich and trying to convince me that I have to eat Schweinsbraten instead of burgers to save my cultural soul. Culture is not a set of things and behaviours, it's the principle of the change of things and behaviours. People can decide where to go and what to do.

The last sentence guides me through to the border of my liberal view. A bad thing would be if the people can't decide any more which cultural way to live. This would be the case if we have only ikea or McDonalds to buy furniture or prepared food. But this is rather a problem in communistic systems than in capitalistic. And it was a problem in the conquest of south-america: Not giving them the axe and the horse, but taking their land was the problem.

In todays globalization debate, the far bigger problem of repression of people is not the buying side, its the earning side of the people. It's not that they have to buy Coca-Cola, it's that they have to work for them under circumstances, that may hinder them in living there own way of life.

Thanx guys, for feedback! I am still a beginner in ethno, so please be gentle ;-)

Thinking about it I tend to agree with kerleone, especially when you think in longer terms of time. I never felt colonialized by IKEA or H&M or McD because it always was there, since I was born. It never felt foreign and therefor for me it became part of my every-day life ... and by that in a broader perspective part of my understanding of being german. It is not yet part of german tradition, though. But what do I think of that fact? Am I upset, because things ain't the way they used to be anymore? No, in that particular case I'm not. McD and Co are more or less comfortable opportunities to eat, to furniture, to buy clothes, to express myself, whatever, I enjoy having them. But how would I feel about some circumstances (for example a foreign exporting company) taking away from me eg. Biergärten, Football, free Universities, Pfannkuchen etc.? I would get as mad as I would, if someone would take away my beloved IKEA, my kungfu school in munic, my japanese car or Internet.

Culture changes every day in many different ways ... commercially driven changes are among the fastest and therefor are often highly aggressive, fast changes hurt, superficially said. I never asked, but I am sure, my grandparents were sad about foreign companies ruling out german wooden rural furniture style ...maybe thats why they visit those ugly restaurants from time to time ... :D

Real hazards exist, though, as kerleone said, when people are kept from choosing their way of live (even this might be interpreted as quite individualistic or eurocentric point of view). And not being able to choose where to buy fastfood or furniture indeed is a very essential problem of capitalistic systems. The negative effects of developments creating monopolies are clearly demonstrated by Microsoft. Maybe those dangers are even bigger in non-capitalistic countries, because of a lack of expiriences.

Thinking of capitalism, wages and prices. Being forced to choose capitalism is happening in the world, too. Either live in poverty or be forced into capitalistic employment to be able to pay priced commodities to me means not having the choice of living the life you prefer, too. But these are prozesses, they tend to balance out... I hope =)

praying mantis herbalist now!