Page 167 - The Disneyization of Society

THE DISNEYIZATION OF SOCIETY

an implied critique of the concept of McDonaldization. If there is a critical
element in the concept of Disneyization when juxtaposed with McDonaldization,
158 it is to suggest that McDonaldization does not fully capture some of the changes
that are occurring in the service and consumption spheres in modern society –
changes that are the subject of the preceding chapters – and that the concept of
Disneyization does address these transformations. Equally, Disneyization leaves the
door open for other narratives of large-scale change that, along with McDonaldization,
provide useful accounts of what is going on in the modern economy and its culture.
Consumption also connects with another major theme in this chapter, namely,
globalization. Disneyization is depicted as a globalizing force in that it is spread-
ing in various ways and degrees to different parts of the globe. The link between
consumption and globalization is not a coincidence, of course. What Sklair calls
‘the culture-ideology of consumerism’ is one of the main factors in the spread of
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global capitalism today. Consumption provides both the rationale and the motor
for much of what we see as denoting globalization. In treating Disneyization in
this chapter as linked to both consumption and globalization, it is being depicted
as a potent means of increasing the consumption of services and goods that is
spreading across the globe.

Disneyization as Systemscape

One way in which Disneyization and McDonaldization can be viewed as parallel
processes is that both can be viewed as signals of globalization, the sense that the
world is becoming one place in which national boundaries become less significant
than in earlier times. Ritzer makes this point in relation to McDonaldization in his
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more recent work, and it is apparent that the dimensions of Disneyization out-
lined previously are similarly spreading globally, the implications of which are
given further attention below. But what is striking about Disneyization and
McDonaldization is that they are not to do with the global diffusion of products.
Much of the writing on globalization is full of hyperbole about the global spread
and recognizability of prominent brands: Nike, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Pizza Hut,
Starbucks, KFC, Benetton, Body Shop and so on. And, of course, one could hardly
disregard Mickey’s ears and Walt’s signature or the golden arches of McDonald’s
as symbols involved in the global travels of brand names.
But the spread of well-known brand names is not what Disneyization (and
McDonaldization) are about: they are concerned essentially with the diffusion of
modes of delivery of goods and services. McDonaldization relates primarily to a
mode of delivery in the sense of the production of goods and services. It is a means
of providing an efficient and highly predictable product and service in a manner
that would have met with the approval of Henry Ford and Frederick Winslow