Taiwan’s Bubble Tea Drinking Culture

Extension of Parallel Trends of Homogenization and Heterogenization

Abstract

In response to the widespread distribution of America’s consumer goods over the globe, Ritzer, an American sociologist who is most notably known for his contribution towards the concept of McDonaldization, claims “there are powerful homogenizing trends in the world today” (Ritzer 1998: 89) in terms of means of consumption. Yet, he did not deny that there is a “parallel trend in the direction of heterogenization” (Ritzer 1998:89), shown by Beyer’s quote that “the global system … encourages the creation and revitalization of particular identities as a way of gaining control over systemic power” (Ritzer 1998:86). He further contends the possibility that these societies under Western influence can even “begin exporting their creations to other societies” (Ritzer 1998:90). However, Ritzer failed to provide sufficient elaboration to explain the mechanics of the two apparently conflicting trends. How can Westernization help in the heterogenization process with its alleged homogenising influence? Hence, this paper seeks to extend Ritzer’s view on the possibility of such a parallel trend by exploring the interesting interplay of both homogenization and heterogenization processes in the case study on the tea drinking culture in Taiwan. This study aims to demonstrate how societies can achieve a balance between Western influence and local cultural identity construction against the general trend of Westernization. This paper argues that in the case of Taiwan, the heterogenization trend occurs in response to the homogenization trend. Taiwan is then able to leverage on the homogenizing Western influence that modifies means of consumption to facilitate the process of heterogenization in tea drinking culture, which includes creation and exportation of the representative cultural product, ‘bubble tea’, that serves to reinforce Taiwanese cultural identity