Bryman, Alan. The Disneyization of Society.
Bosshart, Louis
Bryman, Alan. The Disneyization of Society. London, Thousand Oaks,
New Delhi: Sage, 2004. Pp. viii, 199. ISBN 0-7619-6764-8 (pb.) $49.95.
The author defines the term Disneyization as "the process by
which the principles of the Disney theme parks are coming to dominate
more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the
world" (p. 1). Disneyization is explored in four major chapters:
theming, hybrid consumption, merchandising, and performative labor. In
the theming chapter the author shows "that more and more areas of
modern life are becoming themed in a similar way to the sense in which
Disney theme parks are themed" (p. 52). Restaurants, malls, shops,
zoos, holiday destinations, they all are themed, getting a touch of
distinctiveness. Disney parks are not only amusement parks, they also
offer "consumption opportunities" (p. 75), providing new forms
of hybrid consumption, bringing the merchandising potential to an
optimum. "Merchandising is closely bound up with hybrid
consumption" (p. 100). Emotional and aesthetic labor of well
performing employees plays an important role in this context.
Still following the author's own intention Disneyization is a
parallel to Ritzer's notion of McDonaldization. "Disneyization
seeks to create variety and difference, where McDonaldization wreaks
likeness and similarity" (p. 4). While McDonaldization shows a
tendency towards homogeneity, Disneyization is seen as a mechanism of
differentiation. Nevertheless, both globalizing forces have a great deal
in common. They are linked to consumption; they combine information and
entertainment, facts and fiction, cognitive and emotional processes, in
one word: they are linked with what is called "hybridization."
In his book Amusing ourselves to death (1986), Neil Postman
diagnosed a trend to present "all subject matter as
entertaining" (p. 87). He did it without empirical evidence. A good
decade later M. J. Wolf created the term
"entertainmentization" and came to the conclusion that
entertainment was at that time the fastest growing industry: "I see
an endless appetite for entertainment content: something to connect us
emotionally with products, something to provide us with information in a
stimulating way.... Entertainment has become the unifying force of
modern commerce, as pervasive as currency." To quote Bryman again:
"Consumption lies at the heart of Disneyization" (p. 157). But
one has to go further. Entertainment nowadays pervades nearly all
spheres of our lives. Keywords are politainment, edutainment,
sportainment, evangelitainment, digitainment, branded entertainment,
militainment, advertainment, and so on! It is in this context that the
book of Alan Bryman is to be read. It is part of an overall analysis of
contemporary global phenomena and a useful, intelligent, informative
contribution to the study of modern society and its future development.
References
Postman, N. (1986). Amusing ourselves to death. New York: Penguin
Books.
Ritzer, G. (1993). McDonaldization of society. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Wolf, M. J. (1999). The entertainment economy: How megamedia forces
are transforming our lives. New York: Times Books.
Louis Bosshart
University of Freiburg-Fribourg, Switzerland
