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The Mcdonaldization of Enchantment and Consumers Practices of Re-Enchantment: a Dialectic View of Transformative Consumption Christian Jantzen Aalborg University, Department of Communication Rob Kozinets, University of Wisconsin, Department of Marketing [email protected] Per Ostergaard University of Southern Denmark, Department of Marketing John Sherry Nor

Is Re-Enchantment just Enchantment?: Towards an Understanding of a Second order Enchantment Per Ostergaard University of Southern Denmark, Department of Marketing Christian Jantzen Aalborg University, Department of Communication Ritzer’s (2005) proposals for re-enchanting a disenchanted world are grounded in Weber’s (2001) arguments about the rationalization of the western world. Ritzer makes a direct comparison between the cathedrals of consumption and the cathedrals associated with organised religions. The enchantment in pre-capitalistic era is presumed to be quite similar to enchantment today. Is this comparison historically viable? We investigate this question through the lens of Baudrillard’s (1993) writings on simulation and simulacra. Politicized Consumption Community and Consumers’ Practices of Enchantment Craig Thompson Gokcen Coskuner University of Wisconsin- Madison, Department of Marketing This study analyzes a politicized form of consumption community in order to extend theoretical understanding of the enchantment-disenchantment dialectic. Community Supported Agriculture is a system of shared risk and consumer involvement (and commitment) quite distinct from conventional channels of food distribution. By vesting consumers in a specific organic farm and by encouraging consumers to get closer to the land, the CSA model immerses consumers in a world of unpredictability, surprise, and spontaneity that is quite conducive to experiences of re-enchantment. New Religions, Temple Burns, and the Re-enchantment of Belief Robert V. Kozinets York University, Department of Marketing John F. Sherry, Jr. University of Notre Dame, Department of Marketing This study depicts the grassroots, themed, creative behavior of consumers at a popular American anti-market festival and analyzes them as ritualistic and touristic processes that decommodify, resacralize, authenticate, and reenchant the processes of belief and meaning-making that have most commonly been provided by organized religions. Although the Burning Man festival has been explored as an autonomous zone of self-expressive communal and social regeneration, the significance of its sacred dimensions holds insights for consumer researchers interested in exploring meaning-making, authenticity, the sacred and reenchantment in contemporary religious expression.

[to cite]: Christian Jantzen Aalborg University (2006) ,"The Mcdonaldization of Enchantment and Consumers Practices of Re- Enchantment: a Dialectic View of Transformative Consumption", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 33, eds. Connie Pechmann and Linda Price, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 352-354.

[url]: http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/12288/volumes/v33/NA-33

[copyright notice]: This work is copyrighted by The Association for Consumer Research. For permission to copy or use this work in whole or in part, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at http://www.copyright.com/. SPECIAL SESSION SUMMARY The McDonaldization of Enchantment and Consumers Practices of Re-enchantment: A Dialectic View of Transformative Consumption Craig J. Thompson, University of Wisconsin-Madison

We glide through contemporary shopping malls, our senses marketplace to mitigate feelings of disenchantment. These studies filled by a dazzlingly and dizzying array of sights, sounds, and emphasize the co-creation of meaning and suggest that consumers seductive sales pitches. We choose our themed meals from a palette enchant consumption objects by situating them within layers of of standardized choices fortified with all kinds of differentiating emotional and autobiographical significations. Consumers also symbolic additives. Our living spaces, conversations, and personal actively created their own enchanted worlds of consumption through styles become increasingly interlinked with the ceaseless flow of their participation in consumption communities and a multitude of calculated commercial images that promise an aura of mystery, liminal consuming spaces. The second set of studies analyze the sensuality, and authentic difference. In the midst of this consumer ways in which the commercial market has responded and adapted culture flux, lies Nietzsche’s fabled myth of the eternal return: a to these ephemeral consumer desires for enchantment, via strate- perpetual repetition of unfulfilled quests and disappointing out- gies such as retro branding (Brown et al 2002), using computer comes that are undertaken in hopes of attaining an elusive ideal. technology to create interactive domains for fantasy enactment This session will place an analytic spotlight on this dialectical cycle (Davis 1998), and designing so-called “cathedrals of consump- of enchantment?rationalization?disenchantment?re-enchantment tion,” such as Las Vegas spectacles, themed shopping malls, theme and the kinds of consumer desires and transformative consumption parks, themed restaurants, cruise ships, magnificent high tech projects that it engenders. The papers in this session will analyze athletic stadiums, various forms of superstores, and state-of-the-art how this dialectic motivates particular forms of transformative movies theaters (Ritzer 1998). consumption that are geared toward not only self-transformation However, another turn of this dialectical cycle is now under- but also to transformations in the very structure of market relation- way: a growing legion of consumers are expressing dissatisfaction ships. with the pre-packaged experiences of enchantment that are made This dialectic between disenchantment and enchantment has readily available within these cathedrals of consumption (e.g., been a recurring analytic subtext of culturally oriented consumer Thompson and Arsel 2004) and are seeking out transcendent research. Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry (1989) chart the tensions consumption experiences that convey the aura of magic and authen- and movements between sacred and profane consumption that ticity (Arnould, Price, and Otnes 1999; Kozinets 2002; Thompson animate everyday consumption and imbue special possessions with and Tambyah 1999; Thompson and Arsel 2005). While specific their invocative power. Arnould, Price, and Otnes (1999) reveal studies have explored specific moments in this dialectic, little how natural servicescapes enable consumers to experience a magi- consideration has been given to the dialectic relationships that exist cal transformation conspicuously absent from the rationalized flow between these consumption modalities or discussed the transfor- of their everyday lives. Firat and Venkatesh (1995) trace out mative impulses that emerge from this cycle. The aim of this special modernity’s disenchanting and rationalizing trajectories and antici- session was to cast a theoretical spotlight on this broader set of pate that the conditions of postmodernity will engender a new dialectical relationships. liberatory project of creative, playful, and enchanted consumption. Kozinets (2001) argues that ardent Star Trek fans (Trekkers) seek SESSION OVERVIEW to align technological utopian promises of science with the emo- The dialectic between rationalization and enchantment can be tionally charged realms of fantasy, myth, and mysticism. Kozinets traced to the formative stages of the modern capitalist system. From (2002) analyzes the empowering and enchanting rituals that eman- the outset, the rationalizing impulses of Fordism co-existed with the cipate Burning Man participants from their usually distanced, enchanting consumer dream worlds offered by department stores, prosaic, marketized social experiences. Brown, Kozinets, and Sherry arcades, and theme parks (Benjamin 2002; Leach 1993). This very (2003), find successful retro branding invoking the storied forms of tension also provides the genealogical and conceptual link between myth that blend quests, nostalgic longing, and irresolvable myster- two of the more influential books ever written on the capitalist ies into storied realms of enchantment whose delights draw from the system: Max Weber’s (1904/2001) The Protestant Ethic and the past. Thompson (2004) argues that the natural health marketplace Spirit of Capitalism and Colin Campbell’s (1987) The Romantic leverages the ideal of mystical enchantment through its mythologi- Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism. cal blending of Gnostic appeals to spiritual transcendence of the Weber famously argued that the Protestant ethic, with its body and Romantic appeals to the magical and revitalizing proper- emphasis on hard work, delayed gratification, and rational self ties of nature. Kozinets et al (2004) analyze ESPN Zone as a liminal control, set the cultural stage for the high degree of capital accumu- and ludic space where consumers escape their routinized work lives lation and investment that capitalism required to flourish. More- by engaging in deep play; in this way, these consumers can see over, the Protestant ethic was highly compatible with the bureau- themselves as a part of a wondrous and transcendent spectacle, cratic rationalization of production and economic relations that linked to fantasy, celebrity, and magical moments of athletic fueled the growth of the capitalist economy. Weber also laid the achievement. Muniz and Schau (2005) contend that the enduring foundation for many contemporary cultural critiques of capitalism loyalties and passions expressed by members of the abandoned by warning that the expansionist tendencies of capitalism had the Apple Newton community are steeped in an ethos of techno- potential to create an iron cage of rationality that would disenchant mysticism and religiosity. the world and empty the human soul. Campbell’s (1987) compan- This family of studies can be parsed into two related but ion work argues that the Protestant ethic also demanded an intensive distinctive thematic categories. The first addresses how consumers reflection on one’s inner life and passions for the ostensible pur- rework and refashion the cultural/symbolic resources offered by the poses of quelling any vestige of sinful thought. Campbell suggests

352 Advances in Consumer Research Volume 33, © 2006 Advances in Consumer Research (Volume 33) / 353 that this form of reflexive self-monitoring paradoxically stoked the this cycle of enchantment?rationalization?disenchantment?re-en- imaginative hedonism and other forms of consumer fantasy that chantment. function as the cultural drivers of modern consumption. Ostergaard and Jantzen opened the session with a brief distil- George Ritzer (1993, 1998, 2001) further develops this dialec- lation of Ritzer’s “cathedrals of consumption” thesis. Next, they tical relation by analyzing its contemporary manifestations in a analyzed specific experience economy exemplars from a postmodern postmodern economy oriented toward service (rather than manu- perspective to argue that Ritzer’s pessimistic view is premised on facturing) and where lifestyle choices and consumption interests an outmoded modernist view of authenticity. Drawing from have become defining aspects of identity. According to Ritzer, the Baudrillard’s order of simulacra, they proposed that the very nature iron cage of rationality has taken the form of McDonaldization— of enchantment has been transformed in ways that defy the assump- that is, a process by which the principles of the fast-food industry— tions of the Weberian tradition. Next, Thompson and Coskuner efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through tech- analyze an emerging form of marketing relationships- Community nology—are being applied, across the globe, to more and more Supported Agriculture (CSA) through interviews with producers sectors of social life. Across myriad contexts, Ritzer shows how (e.g. farmers) and CSA members. Their analysis shows that CSA these rationalizing principles have led to a high degree of cultural farmers and consumers are linked in a common project to create a homogenization and also have transformed the very nature of work new market form that forges an ethos of communal participation; and consumption. that reintegrates consumers into the production process; and that In his more recent work, Ritzer (2005) makes a dialectic turn rekindles connections with the magic of the land and food. Through by positing that McDonaldization also inspires consumer desires the CSA model, farmers and consumers understand themselves as for enchantment, which the capitalist market then attempts to transforming the market system in a way that obviates the ills of satisfy through a plethora of “cathedrals of consumption.” These corporate-dominated agri-business and more specifically the consumption cathedrals are designed to attract and enchant con- corporatization of organic farming. These same actions also imbue sumers and thereby inspire purchases of the magical goods and food consumption with an aura of magic that emerges through a experiences being proffered. Through this argument, Ritzer culls a symbolic contrast to the far more convenient and predictable world postmodern synthesis from Weber and Campbell seminal explana- of processed foods and fast food chains. Sherry and Kozinets tions of rationalism and romanticism. The rationalizing tendencies analyze the ways in which desires for spiritual epiphanies and of McDonaldization foster potent desires for experiences of en- sanctifying (and community building) experiences which tradition- chantment. A staggering variety of themed servicescapes now stand ally have been fulfilled by organized religions are now actively ready to give consumers what the experiences of enchantment that constructed by consumers in spheres far removed from religious they have been structurally predisposed to want. Paradoxically, institutions. These re-enchanting practices map onto postmodern these cathedrals of consumption adhere to the logic of consumer trends by emphazing a decentralized, grassroots, DIY McDonaldization by delivering commercialized and pre-packaged participatory where there is no singular authority orchestrating the forms of enchantment and therein lay their most fundamental form that sacred experiences may take. Kozinets and Sherry argue shortcoming. that these consumer-centric actions are a re-enchantment of reli- Ritzer (2005) contends that enchantment emerges from mo- gious experiences and a means to reclaim experiences of the sacred ments of unpredictability and spontaneity but these qualities are from the rationalizing impulses of organized religion. antithetical to the imperatives for technological control and consis- tency that characterize branded servicescapes. As a result, these SHORT ABSTRACTS themed consumer environments can only offer rationalized simula- tions of enchantment and they consistently fail to deliver the “Is Re-Enchantment just Enchantment?: Towards an feelings of awe, wonder, and surprise which are intrinsic to fully Understanding of a Second Order Enchantment” captivating experiences of magical consumption (see Arnould and Per Ostergaard and Christian Jantzen Price 1993). The simulations of enchanting places are never quite Ritzer’s (2005) proposals for re-enchanting a disenchanted authentic and never quite fill consumers’ experiential void. These world are grounded in Weber’s (2001) arguments about the ration- conditions then set the cultural stage for a continuous cycle of alization of the western world. Ritzer makes a direct comparison consumer expectations and disappointments (a self-perpetuating between the cathedrals of consumption and the cathedrals associ- cycle much like Campbell’s explanation of insatiable consumer ated with organised religions. The enchantment in pre-capitalistic desires). Trapped within the McDonaldized world of consumerism, era is presumed to be quite similar to enchantment today. Is this individuals tend to see few ways out of the system and hence comparison historically viable? We investigate this question through continue to pursue a futile project of enchantment through the the lens of Baudrillard’s (1993) writings on simulation and simulacra. paradoxically rationalized and predictable dream worlds produced by corporate capitalism. For Ritzer (1999) and many like-minded social critics (Lasn 1999), consumers are trapped in a resilient, “Politicized Consumption Community and Consumers’ multi-faceted, and hence pernicious iron cage of rationality. Practices of Enchantment” This pessimistic account suggests that the dialectic between Craig Thompson and Gokcen Coskuner disenchantment and the quest for enchantment is a kind of closed This study analyzes a politicized form of consumption com- loop that cycles through in perpetuity. Ritzer sees a glimmer of hope munity in order to extend theoretical understanding of the enchant- in an irrepressible impulse for creative self-expression. Ritzer, ment-disenchantment dialectic. Community Supported Agricul- much like Lasn (1999), views creativity as the humanistic monkey ture is a system of shared risk and consumer involvement (and wrench that can jam the system and open up venues for resistance commitment) quite distinct from conventional channels of food and escape. In effect, consumers are seen as either being fully distribution. By vesting consumers in a specific organic farm and by constrained with the iron cage of McDonaldization or they hap- encouraging consumers to get closer to the land, the CSA model lessly bang against its bars hoping to create an opening wide enough immerses consumers in a world of unpredictability, surprise, and for an escape into some never quite specified Utopia. The papers in spontaneity that is quite conducive to experiences of re-enchant- this session explore a different set of implications that follow from ment. 354 / The McDonaldization of Enchantment and Consumers Practices of Re-enchantment “New Religions, Temple Burns, and the Reenchantment of Lattin, Don (2003), Following Our Bliss: How the Spiritual Belief” Ideals of the Sixties shape Our Lives Today, New York: Robert V. Kozinets and John F. Sherry, Jr. Harper Collins. 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