-
Jan 24
In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser explores the influence that the US fast food industry has had on the world. We all know that the rise of fast food has led to high levels of obesity, but the growth of the industry has also led to changes in agriculture, employment, politics, culture and more. Throughout the book, Schlosser shows that the real cost of fast food is not reflected in the price on the menu.
What I found most shocking was the way in which low wage, unskilled employees are treated, both in the restaurants and in the meatpacking industry. Meatpacking used to be highly skilled and highly paid work. It is now the most dangerous job in the United States. The workers seem to be regarded as virtually disposable. Their welfare doesn’t even register on the list of priorities for meatpacking firms – they are slaves to the speed of the factory lines. And the speed of those lines is not dictated by concerns for safety, but by profitability.
I was also amazed by the huge influence that major fast food chains have had on the political system. They have a hypocritical obsession with the ‘free market’, opposing reforms in worker safety, food safety and minimum wage laws, whilst benefiting from enormous government subsidies. It seems that it is all too easy for a large corporation to ‘buy’ politicians, so that they no longer truly represent the people who elected them. In addition they have engaged in anti-competitive practices such as price fixing, wiping out numerous small businesses – doesn’t really sound much like a free market to me.
Fast food has also led to the rise of massive multinational agricultural corporations. This has affected farming, with many small family farms being absorbed into these large firms, and farmers losing their independence, becoming wage slaves or even being forced off the land altogether. The way that farmers are treated made me think of the Middle Ages, when the peasants who worked the land were virtually slaves to the landowners.
This is a must-read book. It is both fascinating and shocking. It has changed the way I think about fast food, and I will definitely think twice before buying another fast food meal. But it also ends on a positive note, showing that fast food firms are capable of responding to consumer concerns and changing their ways. An example of this is the removal of polystyrene packaging in the US and UK. The people who run the industry, who make decisions, are not bad people, they’re just business people. If enough people demand free range, organic food, they will provide it.
Related posts:
Tagged as: fast food
Leave a Reply
