Now that's Something!

George Ritzer, author of the classic The Macdonalization of Society, which explains how demand is increasing for the pre-packaged, reliable yet mediocre, has now written a new book, The Globalisation of Nothing. (This tip came from the Slow Food journal.)

Macdonalization had a profound effect on me. Having grown up in the US, we ate at McDonald's a lot, and I still like a big mac and fries, even if I don't do it so often. So I have nothing against McDonald's per se. However, like the movie Super Size Me, this book is about more. It is about how every thing from packaged vacations to hospitals and houses are becoming pre-fabricated and standardized. This is not necessarily bad, but it does affect diversity. And as anyone familiar with option theory knows, diversity (read volatility for you geeks out there) means that there is always the potential for higher tops. In other words, pre-packaged often means quality is mediocre and never reaches heights. So you don't have to boycott McDonald's, but visit your corner restaurant too sometimes. Go to the local turkish greengrocer rather than the supermarket. Support small business and diversity.

In his new book, Ritzer makes a divide between Something and Nothing. Just like David Letterman asks, "Is this something?", or one might say of something good, "Now that's really something!" or in Norwegian "Det var noe det!", Ritzer's Something is diverse, local, and traditional. Nothing is standardized and mass-produced. Nothing does not have to be bad, McDonald's is Nothing and I still like it. So is Pizza Grandiosa. And Something could be of very low quality, like that restaurant in Georgia we ate at so many years ago... But the problem is that Nothing is being globalized and spreading at the expense of Something, or of diversity. Essentially the same theme as McDonalization, so I look forward to reading it.

Now, I am more a supporter of globalization in reality. But I wish that the true potential of globalization would be to spread Something all over; to make local products, cultures and traditions available to global markets. That is what I am trying to do with Sarrazac.