The ‘McDonaldized Consumer Society’ and tourism industry governance by local development zones in China: an empirical study

Shasha Du and Penghui Hu

Current Issues in Tourism, 2022, vol. 25, issue 6, 874-886

Abstract: Empirical data from a qualitative study of tourism industry by a local development zone in a China county is analysed in the context of the theories of McDonaldization, consumer society, and postemotional society. Tourism industry in China appears to run on the principles of ‘McDonaldized Consumer Society’, with notable differences from Western countries. We found that the central status of consumers has given way to governments at multiple levels including county and village. What Baudrillard calls the symbol system is established by local development zones in China by means of, Administrative Priority and Market Affinity mechanisms, and are implemented through the Project System and the Agent System with a process of Industry Planning, Administrative Simplification, Non-Market Translation, Selective Demarcation and Zoning Technology. The end result is an unsustainable, low quality, industrial development characterized by indifference on the part of bureaucrats and protests by villagers. We propose the implementation of non-government organizations (NGO’s) as a way to remedy some of the issues we discovered in our research.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1080/13683500.2021.1907321

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