Fast Food Nation – Fast Food World

Jason M. Artman, Chris Mangun, Sean O’Laughlin, Tracy Van Prooyen, Chris Weaver, Jody Wiley

Vital Theme and Narrative

 Civilization, Cultural Diffusion, and Innovation —Schlosser’s “Fast Food Nation” argues that the influence of the fast food industry permeates through all American culture and has grown to a world-wide culture.

First Order Document

 McMemories — Official McDonald’s Collectibles Advertisement 1997 Magazine Ad

Second Order Documents

 Raising the Arches http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/images/bliraqmcdonalds.htm

Second Order Documents

 Food Defects Action Levels

The Food Defect Action Levels of natural or unavoidable defects in foods that present no health hazards for humans Peanut Butter

Insect filth Rodent filth Average of 30 or more insect fragments per 100 grams Average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100 grams

Mushrooms —Canned and Dried

Insects Average of over 20 or more maggots of any size per 100 grams U.S. FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 1998

Second Order Documents

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The Short Handled Hoe

It was a dirty, miserable job that gave real meaning to the term "backbreaking" labor. The work was done with two "instruments of horror" designed by the devil, according to one worker. One was the infamous "short shoe," which had a handle twelve to eighteen inches long. A regular long-handled hoe could have been used, but it was considered harmful to the plants. With the short hoe, there was less margin for error.

http://www.farmworkers.org/shorthoe.html

Second Order Documents

 First McDonald’s Restaurant http://www.mcdonalds.com/countries/usa/corporate/info/museum/pic1/

Second Order Documents

 Fast Food Nation --The growth in children's advertising has been driven by efforts to increase not just current, but also future, consumption. Hoping that nostalgic childhood memories of a brand will lead to a lifetime of purchases, companies now plan "cradle-to-grave" advertising strategies. --No other industry in the United States has a workforce so dominated by adolescents. About two-thirds of the nation's fast food workers are under the age of twenty. Instead of relying upon a small, stable, well-paid, and well-trained workforce, the fast food industry seeks out part-time, unskilled workers who are willing to accept low pay. Teenagers have been the perfect candidates for these jobs, not only because they are less expensive to hire than adults, but also because their youthful inexperience makes them easier to control ....

Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation

Second Order Documents

 McDonaldization of Society --McDonaldization is prevalent everywhere, and there are very few possibilities for escape…You are exposed to McDonaldization when you super size your fries or head to the supermarket to rent a video. Every time you use an ATM, pay for your gas at the pump or call a company and are led through a series of menus before reaching an actual human, you are taking part in a McDonaldized part of society. - (T)hey’ve set in motion something which is so much bigger than they are, that this process is so much broader than what they are. In fact, McDonald’s could disappear tomorrow, or could go out of business tomorrow and this process would continue on. You might have to give it a different name but the process would continue, I mean the process had a history long before McDonald’s…The fast food restaurant, or McDonald’s could disappear but the process will be transformed into some new form.” Interview with George Ritzer, author of McDonaldization of Society, 1993

Third Order Documents

          http://www.farmworkers.org/testimony.html

http://www.farmworkers.org/migrdata.html

Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press: 1993 Sinclair, Upton. The Jungle. 1905 www.stopchildlabor.org

www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk

McDonald’s pamphlet: “All About McDonald’s and You – Your Family” McDonald’s pamphlet: “ We Share Our Community” McDonald’s pamphlet: “Taste, Choice and Balanced Eating: A Menu of Taste and Choice”