Bryman, Alan. 1999. "The Disneyization of Society." The Sociological Review 47(1):25-47.
This source describes the four trends which Disney theme parks disperse throughout popular society, and how these trends contribute to a consumerist capitalist culture. George Ritzer’s The McDonaldization of Society inspired Bryman’s work. Ritzer’s book, published in 1993, introduces the idea of McDonaldization and explains how McDonald’s chains propagate “efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control” (Bryman 1999:381) into contemporary life and commerce. The first element of Disney parks which has infiltrated into modern life is theming, which creates cohesion and places emphasis on a theme instead of the product or service itself. Disney parks …show more content…
Disney makes and sells their own merchandise, associated with Disney characters and ideas. Merchandising has proliferated into the marketing techniques of movie and TV production companies, restaurants, sports teams, and other enterprises, which use characters to create profit. Finally, Bryman describes how emotional labour has contributed to Disney’s success. Disney park employees’ use of Disney terminology and their artificial friendliness create the illusion that employees enjoy their time at the parks as much as its visitors. Customer service departments of restaurants, hotels, and other businesses have adopted emotional labour as a practice. Bryman’s journal article is the foundation for my thesis, which argues that Disney has created an unhealthy consumer culture whereby people buy unnecessary items and value accumulating products over experiences because corporations have disguised consumerist behaviour as valuable human experiences. Bryman outlines the tools Disney uses to manipulate its customers into mindless …show more content…
The media inundates children with messages encouraging consumerist behaviour, which has increased in prevalence since the 1990s and targets children between the ages of four and twelve years old. Consumerist capitalism bases its marketing strategies on children’s “timeless emotional needs” (Linn 2004) for play, food, and social interactions (Barber 2008:18). Corporations harm children by marrying their identities to consumerism and creating unhealthy and generalized gender identity and body image standards to sell products. Consumerist capitalistic enterprises also force children to mature faster than their psychological timeline sets out for them (thereby creating the “tween”). They associate violence, sex, alcohol, and tobacco with “coolness” to sell these things to teenagers. This exploits’ adolescents’ aspirations to mature and to fit in with their peers, by convincing them that sex, violence, and substance use will help them fulfill these goals. Capitalist corporations also encourage children to spend more time using digital technology (like television, computers, and smartphones) than engaging in play, thereby hindering children’s social and psychological development. This source supports the thesis by describing how consumerism harms children’s physical and psychological health. It demonstrates capitalism’s negative effects on an impressionable and
This source describes the four trends which Disney theme parks disperse throughout popular society, and how these trends contribute to a consumerist capitalist culture. George Ritzer’s The McDonaldization of Society inspired Bryman’s work. Ritzer’s book, published in 1993, introduces the idea of McDonaldization and explains how McDonald’s chains propagate “efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control” (Bryman 1999:381) into contemporary life and commerce. The first element of Disney parks which has infiltrated into modern life is theming, which creates cohesion and places emphasis on a theme instead of the product or service itself. Disney parks …show more content…
Disney makes and sells their own merchandise, associated with Disney characters and ideas. Merchandising has proliferated into the marketing techniques of movie and TV production companies, restaurants, sports teams, and other enterprises, which use characters to create profit. Finally, Bryman describes how emotional labour has contributed to Disney’s success. Disney park employees’ use of Disney terminology and their artificial friendliness create the illusion that employees enjoy their time at the parks as much as its visitors. Customer service departments of restaurants, hotels, and other businesses have adopted emotional labour as a practice. Bryman’s journal article is the foundation for my thesis, which argues that Disney has created an unhealthy consumer culture whereby people buy unnecessary items and value accumulating products over experiences because corporations have disguised consumerist behaviour as valuable human experiences. Bryman outlines the tools Disney uses to manipulate its customers into mindless …show more content…
The media inundates children with messages encouraging consumerist behaviour, which has increased in prevalence since the 1990s and targets children between the ages of four and twelve years old. Consumerist capitalism bases its marketing strategies on children’s “timeless emotional needs” (Linn 2004) for play, food, and social interactions (Barber 2008:18). Corporations harm children by marrying their identities to consumerism and creating unhealthy and generalized gender identity and body image standards to sell products. Consumerist capitalistic enterprises also force children to mature faster than their psychological timeline sets out for them (thereby creating the “tween”). They associate violence, sex, alcohol, and tobacco with “coolness” to sell these things to teenagers. This exploits’ adolescents’ aspirations to mature and to fit in with their peers, by convincing them that sex, violence, and substance use will help them fulfill these goals. Capitalist corporations also encourage children to spend more time using digital technology (like television, computers, and smartphones) than engaging in play, thereby hindering children’s social and psychological development. This source supports the thesis by describing how consumerism harms children’s physical and psychological health. It demonstrates capitalism’s negative effects on an impressionable and