Americanization and Globalization

Coca colonization

Quite obvious, coca colonization is a portmanteau of the name of the multinational soft drink maker Coca-Cola and the word colonization, therefore it is used to imply the impartation of western (particularly American) goods, or an invasion by western and especially American Cultural values being dangerous to a culture.

McDonaldization

McDonaldization is the process by which a society takes on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. It comes from the popularity of McDonald’s all around the world.

Disneyfication

While disneyfication, taken from the name of The Walt Disney Company, describes what some see as the way principles of Disney theme parks are spreading throughout society.
Coca-Cola has become a universal drink, McDonald’s are all around the world, Disney cartoons are popular all over the world and Disney theme parks are opened in more and more countries. Moreover, the Economist magazine even uses the “Big Mac index” the comparison of a Big Mac’s cost in various world currencies to informally judge these currencies’ purchasing power parity.

Coca-cola, McDonald’s and Disney therefore have become emblematic of globalization. The McDonald's are so famous all around the world that there even is a theory predicts that globalization and free economies had triggered such a wave of economic prosperity that no two countries with McDonald's restaurants would go to war.
In fact, McDonald's, Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) have become enduring symbols of open markets.
However, the corporate fast food chain industries of the United States are now viewed as modern-day economic colonialists. This can be seen from the name of "coca colonization". However, as they are closely identified with the American culture and lifestyle, coca colonization, McDonaldization, and disneyfication have been seem as a part of Americanization, which is the globalization by the U.S. of the world.
Many think that America has interfered and forced its culture on other countries that do not want to be “Americanized”, particularly France. Many that oppose Americanization tend to against globalization as well. The famous example is the Muslim extremists.

Then, does Globalization = Americanization?

The answer is no. maybe we can say that Americanization is a part of globalization. Due to globalization, the ideology, culture, technology and materials are free to move all around the world and the countries are interdependent on each other than ever. Because of globalization, America as the only superpower in the world, with advanced technology, distinct lifestyle, and advanced ways to do business, successes in globalization and has spread its culture, American lifestyle all over the world through famous American companies such as Coca-cola companies and McDonald’s.

Does Americans really success in the war of globalization? As globalization of culture can be seen as a melting-pot of the global culture, if the culture is in global scale is the dominating culture, there will be a large part of that culture shown all over the world, and many of the characteristics of that culture will be shown in this global culture. Therefore if the American culture has become the dominate culture, it somehow win the war. However, the truth is the opposite.
Americanization in fact does not bring pride to the Americans. In fact, it has brought hatred for the U.S. and threats on their power and freedom. The Americans feel that it has caused wrong judgments to be made about American life. America, used to seen by the world as a great model of democracy, now, is seen as a country full of violence and inequality.

Reference: http://www.msu.edu/~millettf/americanization.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americanization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocacolonization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonaldization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyfication