Fast Food and Its Impact on Roles and Socialization

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
FACULTY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA STUDIES

BACHELOR OF MASS COMMUNICATION (HONS) JOURNALISM
PROGRAMME MC221

SOCIOLOGY – LIB402
RESEARCH PAPER: FAST FOOD AND ITS IMPACT ON ROLES AND SOCIALIZATION

BY: NAME AZIFF AZUDDIN NUR HANIZ MOHD NOR

SUBMITTED TO:
MR NORSHAM FIRDAUS

9 MARCH 2010

FAST FOOD AND ITS IMPACT ON ROLES AND SOCIALIZATION
“More people recognize the Golden Arches than they do the Christian Cross”. Those were the words written down by journalist Eric Schlosser in his book Fast Food Nation. And no words written have ever been truer. Fast food franchises are so deeply rooted in a part of our daily life that we take it for granted. Advertisements everywhere show the wholesome illusions of fast food, usually coupled with subliminal messages of it being hassle-free and delicious.
The advent of fast food has since then brought around issues and debates regarding health as well as a major shift in lifestyles, particularly in the United States of America, where it was born. But since the fast food franchises are widely globalized all over the World, the effects of fast food are bound to experience its effects to the shores of other countries as much as it has affected the American shores. (Schlosser, 1997)

THE ROLES IN THE KITCHEN
In Malaysian cinemas, before the big blockbuster is played, a Kentucky Fried Chicken advertisement rolls into the screen: a young girl walks into a kitchen carrying ingredients to help her mother make a home-cooked meal but creates a mess as she does so. The mother in the end decides to bring the whole family out to a KFC outlet to enjoy a hassle-free meal devoid of lengthy and messy preparations. The mass media’s power to influence society is exceptionally powerful to the extent where it presents to us an ideal way to live our lives and affect our decisions.(rayuso, 2008) In today’s growing economy where both parents are outside the home, fast food take-outs become increasingly commonplace where the parents are more apt to replace family meals with a more quick and hassle-free alternative: fast food(Hendrick, Home-Cooked Meals Elusive for Some Working Parents, 2009). In a poll study done, 92.3% of respondents agreed that fast food was quick and most of them mentioning, “I’m too busy to cook”, a popular line among college degrees than those who were less educated (Hitti, 2008). So the answer gets pretty obvious to why it’s such a commodity among society. But the question lies on how this will solely affect the basic role of parents within the kitchen. In traditional views, the mother is primarily responsible for cooking (Henslin, 2006) - meaning they have a certain responsibility to what goes on inside the kitchen as well as what the family consumes. Preparation of meals and lunch-boxes that were the norms of the 70s rarely exist in today’s society where economy and Women’s Rights development have pushed women to work and put bread on the table, earning them a place right next to their husbands in earning income(United Nations, 2009). Fast food franchises offer the convenient option for these hard-earning parents by taking the role of the kitchen out of their hands. With heavy advertising aimed towards the children. They are of course, excited with the idea of having a meal in fast-food restaurants where the treat of the toy that comes with their meal awaits them. According to Alfred R. Kahn, CEO of the 4Kids Entertainment, “In research. We’ve seen the kids are clearly motivated by the toy, not the meal” (Ritzer, 2000). With promises of toys, playgrounds and easy-meals, it’s no wonder why fast food is the preference, not only for the children but also the parents themselves. It’s not hard to see where the shift in the kitchen role from the parents to fast food franchise exists.

PREPARATION AND HEALTH ISSUES No issue regarding fast food has been brought up more times than health. It is no wonder why, seeing the very nature of how these fast food franchises prepare and the lengthy process their food goes through before it reaches the counter. Fast food all over is similar in the sense that they use a uniform system of ingredient purchasing. Ingredients have to be predictable and consistent (Ritzer, 2000). The conventional method of using fresh ingredients results in unpredictability of the final product that goes into the customer’s stomach; the beef patty may be slightly larger than the other, the serving perhaps a little more than how it should cost at RM7, the serving of fries which are a medley of overcooked and half-cooked.
Fast food restaurants have developed a standard principle to use pre-processed ingredients in their franchises, such as frozen products and pre-sized beef patties. All in order to ensure predictability and uniformity in their meals. The fries are chemically-processed in order to be able to endure long hours of transport as well as to curb the problem of not being able to get the certain variety of potatoes during its different seasons. The buns are made of white bread with all nutritious elements of the wheat, such as bran and germ – stripped away. Preservatives are added to prevent spoilage (Ritzer, 2000).
It is no wonder, that with these preparation methods and added preservatives, health becomes a big issue regarding the case of fast food. In 1993, a large number of children are admitted to a hospital at Seattle, they were diagnosed with bloody diarrhea. When health officials did their investigations, it traced back to under-cooked hamburgers served at a fast food franchise, Jack in a Box. The hamburgers contained a lethal microbe known as E. coli. And that was not the only case (Schlosser, 1997).
If that is not enough as proof, a new study conducted since the year 2000 suggest that stroke risk is linked to the number of fast food restaurants in the certain area. Neighbourhoods with fewer fast food franchises had significantly few cases of stroke, even after demographic and socioeconomic data taken into account (Hendrick, Stroke Risk linked to Fast Food Restaurants, 2009). Fast food, being a cheaper alternative to traditional home cooking or even better-class restaurants – Is preferred by most people, especially those with no time to spend in the kitchen or perhaps those short on money.
But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. There is a wide gap in calorie and fat content between fast food meals and home-cooked meals. Where a standard McDonalds Big Mac McValue meal and Burger King Whooper with Cheese has 1680 and 1844 calories respectively. A standard home-cooked meal consisting of roasted-chicken breast, baked potato, milk and applesauce has only 546 calories. Less than half the amount of calories carried by either the fast food meals. (Pearson Education, 2007).
The problem comes where fast food is taken in excessive amounts, and in this fast-paced economic world where money is time, consuming fast food because it is “easy” is exactly the case why these health problems are cropping up. The known side effects to come with excessive consumption of fast food meals are obesity, heart disease, food poisoning and etc. (Crystal). This in turn affects how society functions as a whole with regards to poorer health conditions.

HEALTH PROBLEMS
Fast food is considered a meal to be consumed at least a day by Malaysians. Whether it’s from burgers to pizza, they will take. Sadly they do not take into account and ignore, that fast food causes many health problems. In addition to causing obesity, fast food causes a plethora of other ailments such as diabetes and heart trouble, just to name a few. To society, fast food is convenient. It is serve fast and ready to be eaten. That is the number one reason so many tons get consumed each year. Not to mention that fast food, artery clogging, heart-stopping junk tastes pretty yummy. According to (Conforth, 2009) eating frequent fast food meals causes society to gain more weight and face an increase risk of developing insulin resistance. Obesity and diabetes are on the rise because of this junk food consumption. In the article of (World Health Organization, 2006) on the title of Obesity and Overweight, obesity defines as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that impairs health. Many now substitute fries for fruits, snack food for vegetable, and sodas for milk. For example, Mc Donald’s burger, Big Mac, has 560 calories and it is not good for the body consumption.
Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body does not produce properly insulin, a hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Thus, if lessen the intake of sugar daily, one will not suffer from diabetes. Several studies has shown that people who eat fast food on a regular basis are more likely to gain weight and in turn experiencing insulin resistance in early middle age that is mentioned by the (NLHBI) who funded the study
After one realizing that when consume fast food causes many illness, and maybe one will gain weight, the individual will decide to diet to reduce him or her weight. One will less intake of carbohydrate, which is the most important elements if we want to have energy, to loose weight. Less intake of rice or even force yourself not to eat. It will lead to society having members who will have bulimia nervosa that is unhealthy for the members of the society.

CHANGING ROLE OF WOMEN
Economy is growing with the society. Now, married couples doesn’t depend only on the husband but the wife as well as it is much stable to raise a family with a double income. Thus, this makes the women having a career, spending more time in the office rather than at home and makes the function of this particular member of the family decrease greatly. Women who owns a career rarely, have the time to be in the kitchen and prepare meals for their family thus, resulting them to take out food instead of preparing the meal at home.
Nowadays, girls at their teenage age couldn’t be bothered to learn cooking or having the initiative to learn, as they are keener to eat out, as it is very convenient for them. For example, if a house of a teenage girl is nearby with a fast food outlet, thus she will be a regular at that outlet resulting the girl, doesn’t have the initiative to open the fridge, look what ingredients can be cooked up to have a decent and a healthy meal. Like it or not, fast food really have a big impact on society, and it effects more on to the negative side greatly. In some cases, where in families, the husband who is unemployed while the wife is, so eventually the wife will be the breadwinner of the family thus resulting the wife to have work late nights, will not have even a little time to be in the kitchen.

CONCLUSION The fast food franchise is a growing industry worldwide and is reaching far into the crevices of the countries it is established in. This globalization is no doubt an economically-convenient path for us to take, but in the long-run – fast food franchises, hiding behind brightly colored advertising and promises and efficient, quick food is affecting society by uprooting us from our traditional roles and well as define socialization in an entirely new perspective. It’s not too late to stop.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Henslin, J. M. (2006). Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston, United States of America: Pearson.
Ritzer, G. (2000). The McDonaldization of Society (New Century ed.). California, United States of America: Pine Forge Press.

REFERENCE

Conforth, T. (2009, November 30). Eating Fast Food Means Weight Gain, Insulin Resistance for Teens. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from About.com: http://womenshealth.about.com/od/girlshealth101/a/fastfoodteenwei.htm
Crystal, D. (n.d.). The link between fast food and health problems. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from Helium - Where Knowledge Rules: http://www.helium.com/items/827764-the-link-between-fast-food-and-health-problems
Hendrick, B. (2009, September 9). Home-Cooked Meals Elusive for Some Working Parents. Retrieved March 7, 2010 from WebMD - Better Information. Better Health: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20090909/home-cooked-meals-put-on-the-backburner
Hendrick, B. (2009, February 19). Stroke Risk linked to Fast Food Restaurants. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from WebMD - Better Information. Better Health: http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20090219/stroke-risk-fast-food
Hitti, M. (2008, December 2). Top 11 Reasons for Fast Food Popularity. Retrieved March 7, 2010 from WebMD - Better Information. Better Health: http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/news/20081202/top-11-reasons-for-fast-foods-popularity
Nelson, R. (2010, February 21). Fast Food and Diabetes. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from LiveStrong: http://www.livestrong.com/article/85388-fast-diabetes/
Pearson Education. (2007). Fat and Calorie Content of Fast Food Versus a Home-Cooked Meal. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from InfoPlease: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934642.html rayuso. (2008). Mass Media Influence on Society. Retrieved March 7, 2010 from HubPages: http://hubpages.com/hub/Mass-Media-Influence-on-Society
Schlosser, E. (1997, September 3). Press Articles - Rolling Stone 2. Retrieved March 7, 2010 from McSpotlight: http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/rollingstone2.html
United Nations. (2009). Women’s Control over Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance. United Nations, Department of Economic & Social Affairs. New York: United Nations.
World Health Organization. (2006, September). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/

APPENDIX

Bibliography: Henslin, J. M. (2006). Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach. Boston, United States of America: Pearson. Ritzer, G. (2000). The McDonaldization of Society (New Century ed.). California, United States of America: Pine Forge Press. Crystal, D. (n.d.). The link between fast food and health problems. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from Helium - Where Knowledge Rules: http://www.helium.com/items/827764-the-link-between-fast-food-and-health-problems Hendrick, B Hendrick, B. (2009, February 19). Stroke Risk linked to Fast Food Restaurants. Retrieved March 8, 2010 from WebMD - Better Information. Better Health: http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20090219/stroke-risk-fast-food Hitti, M Nelson, R. (2010, February 21). Fast Food and Diabetes. Retrieved March 8, 2010, from LiveStrong: http://www.livestrong.com/article/85388-fast-diabetes/ Pearson Education rayuso. (2008). Mass Media Influence on Society. Retrieved March 7, 2010 from HubPages: http://hubpages.com/hub/Mass-Media-Influence-on-Society Schlosser, E United Nations. (2009). Women’s Control over Economic Resources and Access to Financial Resources, including Microfinance. United Nations, Department of Economic & Social Affairs. New York: United Nations. World Health Organization. (2006, September). Obesity and overweight. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs311/en/ APPENDIX