My friend Dean Blevins presented a paper at Trevecca Nazarene University titled “Global Pedagogy: A Table Conversation.” He discussed three current ways of teaching, conversing with, and shaping the coming generations (the first two are found in Benjamin Barber’s Jihad vs. McWorld: How Globalism and Tribalism Are Reshaping the World; the third is Blevins’ response to them).

1. “McWorld” is the attempt to standardize culture through consumption of goods.

Companies portray their products as generic, but they contain cultural and theological assumptions. Marketing these goods persuasively convinces people that the quality of their life is rooted in the consumption of these goods.

Images and slogans reduce persons to passive consumers. The assumption is “one size fits all.” There is only one way to think about life and one product that delivers that life to the willing consumers.

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