The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Consumption and Consumer Studies

Homogenization and Heterogenization

J. MICHAEL RYAN

The American University in Cairo, Egypt

DOI: 10.1002/9781118989463.wbeccs145

Those who see the world as ever more homogenized argue that more of the world is growing increasingly similar. They see the global spread of things like McDonald's, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Puma, Lady Gaga, and Hollywood as evidence that local differences are being washed away by universal sameness. As global organizations, corporations, and political and economic domination – particularly that of the United States – increase their reach, the ability of local governments, cultures, and individuals to resist becoming the same is weakened.

One of the paradigmatic theories of global homogeneity is the McDonaldization thesis. George Ritzer (2010) coined the term “McDonaldization” to describe a process by which the principles of the fast-food industry are coming to dominate more and more sectors of US society as well as the rest of the world. Building on Weber's model of rationalization and the iron cage, Ritzer argues that the principles of the fast-food industry – namely efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control by nonhuman technology – are the modern-day paradigm for global homogeneity.

As opposed to those who see greater homogenization on a global level as a result of the increasing presence of global sameness, the heterogenization argument is supported by those who see this sameness as a vehicle for greater diversity. They argue that although ...