White immigrated to McDonald's in Australia.

-Comment on Greenfield's The Spirit of Capitalism

Wei Sen July 23, 2004

Since the15th century, many developed countries in Western Europe, North America and East Asia have experienced tremendous economic growth. In terms of12 million years of human evolution and thousands of years of human civilization and social history, the world's modern economic growth cannot but be said to be a historical miracle. Looking at the scientific and technological progress and huge economic growth in the modern world in the long history of the evolution of human civilization, one question is naturally: Is the modern economic growth of all countries in the world an accidental event in the evolution of human civilization, or is it an inevitable logic? The further question is: What are the reasons for the sustained economic growth of some countries in modern world history?

So far, there are different opinions about the answers to the above questions, which are still puzzling. As we all know, Marx once explained this point with the dynamic correlation and interactive chain of science and technology, production mode and communication relationship; Weber attributed it to the spirit of capitalist culture with Protestant ethics as the core; North, the winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics from 65438 to 0994 and an American economic historian, attributed the rise of the western world to the clear definition of property rights. Similar to North, Alfred D. Chandler Jr, an American economist, attributed modern economic growth to the "economies of scale" brought about by the innovation of industrial organization of "visible hand". Unlike the optimistic historical determinism of sociologists and economists, historians are usually indeterminists. For example, when trying to answer this question, David S. Landes, a professor of history and economics at Harvard University, once said: "The first is system and culture; Followed by money; But from the beginning and the more obvious, the decisive factor is knowledge "("the country is rich and the poor "). But the further question is, what (social mechanism) determines the accelerated cumulative growth of human knowledge in modern times? Landers didn't seem to answer. Another American historian, kenneth pomeranz, in his book The Great Divergence, also wants to sort out the reasons for the economic growth in the modern world from the relationship between culture and system, and tries to find historical evidence, but when it comes to its "dynamic potential" and "modernity potential", he seems to be vague.

Sociologists, economists, historians and futurists have different opinions and cannot reach an agreement, which will naturally induce more academic explorers. Liah Greenfeld, a professor of political science and sociology at Boston University in the United States, wrote a new book, The Spirit of Capitalism: Nationalism and Economic Growth (Chinese version by Shanghai People's Publishing House in 2004), which added a new explanation to this problem: the reasons (not only conditions) for the sustained economic growth of developed countries in modern world history depend on the emergence and propaganda of nationalism.

Greenfield's answer is obviously Weber-style, that is, to seek the "ultimate motive force" of economic growth from the cultural and spiritual resources of a nation rather than a "country". However, unlike Weber's answer, Greenfield did not attribute this motivation to the individual cultural spirit of Protestant Christians expressed in the external form of western social rationalization, that is, the "work ethics" of capital accumulation through forced frugality based on abstinence and the "call" of new entrepreneurs pursuing economic expansion, but to the nationalism of a nation as a whole. In Greenfield's own words, "nationalism is the source of capitalist spirit"; The spirit of capitalism is accompanied by economic nationalism. From this perspective, Greenfield believes that "the sustained growth of modern economy is not self-sustaining, it needs the encouragement and support of nationalism"; "Nationalism will inevitably promote the type of social structure needed by modern economic development"; Moreover, "nationalism provides a new set of ethical and social concepts, endows economic growth with positive value, and concentrates scattered social energy on economic growth".

In order to confirm and test this theoretical hypothesis, Professor Greenfield tried to find evidence from the modern history of Britain, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Japan and the United States. According to her, nationalism first appeared in modern Britain. By 1600, nationalism has become the dominant social viewpoint in Britain and has effectively changed the social consciousness of the British. Then, British nationalism first brought about the ability to create "economic miracles" for Britain itself and then for the whole world. Professor Greenfield further proved his theoretical conjecture with the example of the Netherlands: Although the Dutch economy rose the earliest in the history of modern western society, by the end of 18, compared with Britain, the Dutch economy was "aging". This sociological thinker believes that the reason for the aging of Dutch economy is that "the Netherlands has no national consciousness" and the Dutch collective moral consciousness is vague. This leads to the fact that the innovative economic thought of the Netherlands does not focus on the source of "national wealth", which makes the Netherlands lack the overall competitiveness after realizing * * *, and therefore lacks the necessary development momentum to support sustained economic growth.

If the Netherlands in the early days of capitalism could not maintain economic growth because of the lack of nationalism, then modern mercantilism, which once swept France, could not replace nationalism and become the engine of sustained economic growth. Greenfield found that although foreign trade has always been the most prosperous sector in the French economy in modern history, French nationalism also rose and fell during the Great Revolution. However, the historical tradition of French physiocracy, the anti-business spirit of nobles under the monarchy, and the fear of Britain in the course of historical development have all contributed to the contradiction and complex mentality of the French nation, especially French entrepreneurs, towards commercial capitalism, resulting in "French business has no credibility before nationalism." Therefore, Greenfield believes that even if this contradictory mentality does not imprison the rise of the French capitalist spirit, it at least hinders its spread. This eventually led to France being a "laggard" compared with Britain and America in the process of modern world economic development.

If it is far-fetched to explain some disappointing economic performances in the modern history of the Netherlands and France from the opposite side with the lack of nationalism or insanity, it may be very effective to explain the economic miracles of Germany and Japan with this mantra. Greenfield believes that Britain's becoming a superpower was not caused by individualism at first, let alone by the German Empire. Germany's ability and courage to challenge Britain in modern history can definitely be attributed to the strong "spirit of change" of German nationalism: in Germany, nationalism is like a magic wand in Andersen's fairy tales, which can turn Cinderella's pumpkins and mice into gorgeous carriages. Compared with the modern economic transformation caused by German nationalism, Japan's rise in East Asia can be attributed to the rise of nationalist spirit with Japan's opening to the west since the Meiji Restoration. Therefore, the independent industrial take-off of a non-European Japanese can be explained by sociological thinkers. As for the recent "economy", doesn't it mean that a respected ruler will help heaven, rule and govern the whole nation, make the country rich, relieve the suffering of all people and achieve great success? Japan's nationalist spirit was originally soaked in the semantics of the word "economy" in Japanese! Thus, this leads to Greenfield's conclusion: "Japanese nationalism was centered on economy from the beginning, and it first became economic nationalism", "This spirit is strong enough to push Japan to pursue and maintain its top position in the economic world in order to compete with the United States". So, what about America? The answer of social thinkers is a bit unexpected: although most early Americans immigrated from Britain, which brought the deep-rooted national consciousness of Britain in the17th century, Greenfield believes that American nationalism did not directly promote the development of American economy, especially the process of American economic take-off and sustained growth: "Nationalism is the condition of American development, not the reason". Why is this happening? According to Greenfield, the reason is simple. When British immigrants brought the modern market economic order into the New World of North America, it was institutionalized. Therefore, it is no longer necessary for the American economy to take off and maintain its continuous vitality to be related to the American nationalist spirit. However, because the capitalist market system is only the externalization of nationalism in the final analysis, the sustained economic growth cannot but be linked with nationalism. Therefore, Greenfield finally came to the following conclusion: "The existence of a unique' capitalist spirit' which is oriented by the sustained growth of economic activities, that is, giving modern economy modernity, should be attributed to nationalism. Generally speaking, the "spirit of capitalism" is the economic expression of nationalism's inherent sense of collective competition-and nationalism itself is the product of national members' emotional investment in national dignity or prestige. "This is an abstract picture that Greenfield described for the story of economic growth in the history of the modern world.

Thinkers always like to explain history, and history seems to be a little girl who has to perform. Philosophers and social scientists often become her makeup artists consciously or unconsciously when explaining history. With the diversity and multiple colors of sociology, social thought history, economics and economic history, Greenfield dressed up the history of modern world economic growth as a leprechaun dancing the "nationalist" waltz. However, it is not known whether the goblin invented by Greenfield is more charming and beautiful than herself in the respective theoretical stages once built by Marx, Weber, North, Landers and Kenneth Pomeraz. A brilliant historical makeup artist, or perhaps a French historian F. Braudel! -Instead of letting history dance on the theorist's stage, let her appear in front of people in a "simple" or at least elegant face. Landers once said that unlike economists, businessmen and other optimists, historians are future agnostics, so they are actually pessimists. Even Professor Greenfield admits in this book that "history has no purpose"?

If Su Shi, a talented poet in the Song Dynasty, had read the historical explanations of Marx, Weber, Braudel, North, Chandler, Landers, Kenneth kenneth pomeranz, Greenfield and others, would he have written a poem "If you compare history with the west, light makeup is always appropriate"?

On Wednesday, May 5, 2004, in Shanghai Yangpu Fudan Shuxin Apartment.

The "economic value" of nationalism

● Zhou Zhaocheng

Starbucks coffee shop in the southeast corner of the Baohe Hall in the Forbidden City, although it has only been opened for more than two months, with an area of less than 10 square meter, has caused quite a stir under the roots of the imperial city. Starbucks coffee with strong American flavor "invaded" the forbidden area of the Palace, a concentrated symbol of China's history and humanities, which attracted a lot of media reports and people's close attention.

In the eyes of western media, these reactions reflect China's strong nationalism. In a recent report, Washington post deliberately quoted a PLA officer as saying, "I object. This is an American product and imperialism, and we should kick it out. " In this report, officials undoubtedly gave the image of authoritarianism, conservatism and anti-American unilaterally, in order to cater to the expanding nationalism of China in the west. Although many people object to the coffee shop entering the Forbidden City, it is not only because it comes from the United States, but also does not mean that they support acrobatic performances, selling candied haws and other acts with China folk colors appearing in the Forbidden City. What people want to maintain is the overall beauty and harmony of the Forbidden City.

Interestingly, the author thinks that Starbucks is the most profitable in this debate. No matter whether it continues to stop at the Forbidden City or is forced to quit, it has been successfully shaped into a representative of American trends and a symbol of fashion culture in this debate about nationalism and is widely known. This may be another successful enterprise marketing plan, using the sensitive point of the confrontation between American trend and China tradition to touch the nerve of media hype. So the owner of this coffee shop is very happy. "What we really like is this kind of exposure and let our name spread in the market."

Nationalism has become the spice of media hype.

Looking at this matter from another angle, people can't help but feel that nationalism has sometimes become the spice of media hype, and it has become a magic weapon for businessmen to engage in gimmicks, which has been tried and tested in China. China seems to be facing such a contradiction. He not only appreciates the advanced western management and system economically, but also has a strong self-esteem and does not want to see the popularity of western culture. This leaves room for the "economic value" of nationalism.

At the end of 1990s, under the background that foreign capital entered more and more economic fields and the state-owned economy was impacted, China had a heated discussion on what is a national industry and whether foreign-funded enterprises are considered as national industries. Later, smart enterprises sniffed out this layer of folk psychology, shouldered the banner of "nationalism" and called themselves "national brands". A few years ago, there was a real estate "Ronghua Chicken" in Shanghai, and it was going to face KFC door to door, hoping that people would support "National Chicken". Although it has been the focus of the media for some time, its management is far from it. How can you be an opponent just by slogan? A number of media and enterprises have joined hands to set up a national brand list, and it can really become a typical case of marketing planning.

Judging from today's coffee shop incident, it seems that not only Chinese enterprises have to carry the banner of "country", but also foreign-funded enterprises have learned to use their own methods. Although the slogan is different, the purpose is the same. After all, there are still many people who are too narrow-minded about culture. They are not open-minded and broad-minded about the diversity and interaction of human culture, and are confined to black-and-white dualism.

The influence of McDonald's in China

"Globalization" is the general trend, but globalization does not mean Americanization or global westernization. The "assimilation" of culture is relative and never one-way. It has the localization of foreign culture, the revival and re-creation of traditional culture after absorbing foreign culture, and the reaction and impetus to foreign culture, which complement each other.

James L. Watson, a professor of anthropology at Harvard University, once edited The Golden Double Arch Towards the East: McDonald's in East Asia to study the process and significance of McDonald's localization in East Asia. It is pointed out in the book that the success of McDonald's lies in that although it still maintains the American style in food variety, service and management, it has adapted to the cultural environment of China by participating in community activities, expressing condolences to teachers, raising the national flag of China, and shaped the image of a local enterprise in front of China people.

Professor Watson also published a paper "The Influence of McDonald's in China" in American Foreign Affairs in the middle of this year, in which he said that McDonald's is obviously local to China children who have eaten McDonald's since childhood. On the other hand, China food is very popular in the United States, and Chinese is rapidly becoming the dominant language in American laboratories. China movies have more enthusiastic audiences than before, and American children imitate Bruce Lee more than Batman. He then asked an interesting and serious question, "So, whose culture is this?" Watson believes that if you have to ask clearly, you have missed the opportunity.

It's not just McDonald's. Many western products have been changed and given new local meanings after arriving in China. When table tennis first emerged, it was mostly open to the outside world, and it was everywhere in the streets. Wearing a suit on formal occasions is a symbol of openness in cities, but in rural areas, even farm work is worn; Wine is chosen at the banquet, but many places like to add balsamic vinegar and sprite, so it is named "Pink Lady", which combines Chinese and Western styles.

Isn't it the same with the changes of China culture overseas? Although Chinese food is run by China people, its taste, ingredients and seasonings are different, and there are many local flavors.

Although China has been reforming and opening for 20 years, it will take longer to change its mentality. After China's entry into WTO, enterprises cannot rely on local protectionism or nationalism, and the influence of foreign culture and traditional culture on people's communication should not be limited to one side, either one or the other. Be more tolerant of foreign cultures, less narrow-minded, more enterprising and less autistic to traditional cultures. Over time, no matter how much similar news is hyped, it is probably difficult to arouse people's strong reaction. Just like the uproar caused by renting banquets to foreign businessmen for the first time in the Great Hall of the People more than 20 years ago, it is now commonplace.

Lianhe Zaobao/special/WTO/pages/WTO131200.html.

Nationalism in Economic Model —— Criticism of Vulgar Economics /listo.aspx? Subject id = 5 & ampmsg_id=3958. Level string = 0 & page =1

The Economic Basis of Nationalism —— Taking Northwest China in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China as an Example/Nation/06042115160158.html.