2 Fast-food work in the United States

The fast-food industry that now extends throughout the world has its roots in the United States. Fast-food restaurants are often regarded as emblematic of a new global culture, but the industry has indisputably been shaped by its American origins. The informality of the restaurants, their uniformity of service to everyone, their focus on speed, their promised smiles are all distinctively American. They grew out of a cultural ethos that values friendliness more than propriety, practicality more than traditions of gracious living, and democratic egalitarianism over status-based distinctions (Bellah et al., 1985; Lipset, 1991; de Tocqueville, 1969). As the industry expanded internationally, these features of fast-food restaurants struck citizens of many countries as novel when they first encountered them, as did the types of food available. The introduction of new eating habits and behavioural norms by powerful American companies raised concerns about cultural imperialism which have been widely aired, although careful studies of how fast-food restaurants become part of local cultures around the world suggest a more complicated two-way dynamic. ¹