Working for McDonald's, France: Resistance to the Americanization of Work

Marianne Debouzy

International Labor and Working-Class History, 2006, vol. 70, issue 1, 126-142

Abstract: Since 9/11 an enormous amount of literature and media coverage has been devoted to anti-Americanism in France. Yet the American model seems to be overwhelmingly present in French life and culture. There is a fascination for it among all classes, from disadvantaged suburban youths who try to imitate African Americans, follow American clothing fashions, and have Power Rangers as heroes, to political elites who never tire of recommending to us the American model (pension funds, the two-party system, education, etc.) and propose adapting it to the French setting. Nothing illustrates this paradox better than the controversial and popular institution of McDonald's in France, which is loved and hated to the point of occasionally provoking a national crisis as well as a number of social conflicts in recent years. After retracing briefly the expansion of McDonald's in France, I will examine the opposition it has aroused, making a distinction between political opposition and opposition in the workplace, which takes the form of a struggle against working conditions, the conception of Mcwork and McManagement. I will look at the people who carry on this struggle and what it all means in terms of resistance to “Americanization.”

Date: 2006
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