CONSUMPTION, HYBRIDIZATION, MEANING: METHODOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF MAIN DISCOURSES CONCERNING TRANSCULTURAL CONSUMPTION. MCDONALD'S IN TAIWAN CASE STUDY

• Authors: Pawlak Katarzyna
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This paper considers methodological implications of the three main ways the cross-cultural consumption is perceived in social sciences. Those discourses are Americanization, multiple modernities theories and theories of hybridization. Analyzing the main premises of each of them, the authoress concludes that there are theories of multiple modernities and that of the hybridization which seem to suit the best today's transcultural consumption. It seems that the main factor deciding about this suitability would be an elementary shift these theories succeed to make i.e. that from the notion of the meaning of a cultural phenomenon as immanent and fixed one (as it was the case of Americanization discourses), towards a concept of a fluent and dynamic meaning currently shaped by not only the producer, but also the receiver and consumer. Such a shift is considered as that of a special importance for an adequate cross-cultural consumption presentation. After choosing the rejoined optic of multiple modernities and hybridization, the authoress analyses McDonald's consumption in Taiwan. She concludes that the meaning and uses of McDonald's restaurant within the frames of Taiwanese society are deeply different than those attributed to it in Europe or America. Taiwanese McDonald's is seen and used not as a fast-food restaurant, but rather a place of hours-long vivid social interaction accompanied by a very limited consumption. As such, phenomena as McDonald's restaurant are not necessarily (as it was seen by theories of Americanization) leading to a world cultural homogeneity, but can contribute to the creation of a new cultural local condition.

Keywords

EN

CROSS-CULTURAL CONSUMPTION; GLOBALIZATION; MCDONALD'S CONSUMPTION (TAIWAN)

Discipline

• SOCIOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY

• Publisher: Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Acta Asiatica Varsoviensia
• Year: 2006
• Issue: 19
• Pages: 59-82
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Pawlak Katarzyna

• Katarzyna Pawlak, Zaklad Krajów Pozaeuropejskich PAN, ul. Nowy Swiat 72, 03-330 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

09PLAAAA05504