Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumResistance to Globalization after 1900

“For us, the fight against the McDonald’s in Millau is a symbol of our resistance against a form of agriculture that wants to feed the world with standardized food, and against a global trade system dominated by the World Trade Organization. This system seeks to dismantle local cultures and replace them with a single global consumer monoculture, where profit is the only value. We are defending the right of communities to feed themselves and maintain their culinary traditions and agricultural livelihoods against the dictums of transnational corporations.”
—José Bové, French agricultural activist, interview, 1999

Based on the passage, the protest against the multinational fast-food chain is best understood as a reaction against which of the following global trends?

  1. A
    The expansion of direct political administration and colonial annexation of territories by foreign powers
  2. B
    The implementation of mercantilist policies that prioritized state accumulation of bullion over free trade
  3. The perceived threat of cultural homogenization and the economic dominance of transnational corporationsAnswer
  4. D
    The complete and irreversible elimination of local culinary traditions and agricultural practices globally

Answer

The protest is best understood as a reaction against the perceived threat of cultural homogenization and the economic dominance of transnational corporations.
The correct answer is correct because the activist’s protest against the fast-food chain and the World Trade Organization highlights the two main pillars of anti-globalization sentiment in the late twentieth century: the economic critique of transnational corporations overriding local sovereignty, and the cultural critique of globalization leading to a standardized consumer monoculture.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the provided source to identify the core concerns of the author.
The author is protesting McDonald's as a symbol of agricultural standardization, cultural homogenization ('global consumer monoculture'), and corporate dominance ('transnational corporations').
This establishes the literal meaning and context of the text.
2
Connect these specific concerns to broader late-twentieth-century historical developments.
These concerns directly map onto critiques of globalization, which accelerated in the late 1900s through institutions like the World Trade Organization and the expansion of multinational businesses.
This contextualizes the local event within the broader AP World History curriculum framework.
3
Evaluate the choices to select the one that accurately describes this trend while avoiding common misconceptions.
The option highlighting cultural homogenization and transnational corporations is correct. Other options incorrectly associate the protest with direct colonial rule, mercantilism, or assume that cultural homogenization has completely succeeded.
This ensures the chosen answer is historically and conceptually precise.

Key Concept

Resistance to globalization in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries often focused on protecting local cultural uniqueness and agricultural traditions from the economic power of multinational corporations and global trade bodies.
Rate this question

Topics

Resistance to Globalization after 1900

More questions from this topic