The spreading of "global state" in Brazil

• Main Author: Silvia Aparecida Guarnieri Ortigoza
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidade de São Paulo 2000-12-01
• Series: GEOUSP: Espaço e Tempo
• Subjects: Commerce; consumption; urban space; fast food; franchising
• Online Access: http://www.revistas.usp.br/geousp/article/view/123482

All over the Brazilian territory, one can see more and more the arrival of big com m erce chains integrated to the franchising system , the fast food has stood out due to its advanced stage of evolution in what concerns the shaping and standardization of the operations. The fast food is a system capable of creating images and codes which are decodable by groups, suggesting and launching behaviors, leading in a certain way to a hom ogenization of taste at world level. The time dedicated to the m eals is short and the fast food jo in s this conjuncture of a new era in the cities. These alterations in the relations of production do not take place abruptly; on the contrary, they are reproduced by means of gradual innovations and in a subtle way, allowing such changes to happen only when they reach a level of maturing. The fast food is a mass system, which encom passes a bigger market, disregarding custom s and traditions. The role of the m edia is very im portant in such process since it invades the day by day, in a game of sym bols and signs, with pre determ ined meanings. It is by the "p lace" that what is "w orldw ide" is em pirically noticed. In this dynam ic, hom ogenization and differentiation take place in parallel