Cultural Discontinuity In Post-Mao China: An Itinerant Ethnography Of McDonald's Beijing

Abstract

Universalistic approaches cannot account for the diversity of culture in a rapidly changing post-communist society. Different age cohorts within countries may exhibit dissimilar values and behavioral orientations.  This article lays a foundation for the use of broader philosophical and methodological frameworks for the study of culture in an age of globalization. Bourdieu’s concepts of “habitus” and “hysteresis effect” are described and applied to a study of post-Mao consumer food culture in China. Food consumption in China is situated in a historical, political and ideological context. McDonald’s Beijing is examined as part of an itinerant ethnography to illustrate the contested meanings of a popular transnational cultural icon.