Inside The Mouse Essay, Research Paper

Disney World places social controls on its visitors and workers in many ways. Disney is a very large corporation and has the power to implement these controls. The major forms of social control that I found were; consumerism, security, technology, location, conformity, and standards of behavior. Through these forms of social controls, Disney is able to control its visitors and workers.

Consumerism at Disney starts before the visitors even get to Disney World. The consumerism starts with the pictures in the brochures. Selling the visitors on Disney World even before they get there. Showing pictures of happy families enjoying themselves at Disney World sells the idea of a safe and nice vacation to the visitors. When the visitor finally arrives at Disney, they are bombarded with products that have the Disney logo on them. Selling the visitors “official” Disney products. The products sold at Disney symbolize the “goodness” that Disney possesses. When the visitors purchase these products of memorabilia, it gives them the identity that they are good also, just like Disney is. If the visitors’ identity is “good”, they will feel safer at Disney World. This leads into the next form of social control at Disney World, security.

Visitors to Disney World very rarely hear about accidents or crimes committed there. As Karen Klugman says in the book, “Unless you live in Orlando and watch Channel 6 or know someone who works at the parks, you have probably never heard of any problems” (104). I personally have never heard of any problems at any of the Disney parks. Having only been to the park in Orlando and the park in Tokyo, Japan, I felt very safe at both locations. This could be because Disney is a very safe place or that the news never gets out. I would imagine that the news never gets out past the cities the parks are located in. By keeping the parks safe, Disney gives the visitors a very good sense of safety. Disney is able to control its own environment for the visitors. It is a very powerful and rich corporation. There is always a Disney staff member around to help with minor accidents. If a child falls and scraped their knee I am sure, that Goofy or Mickey is right around the corner to help comfort the child. When Disney staff do this it gives the parents a greater sense of security for their children and themselves. With information booths and staff running around everywhere in costumes the visitors feel safe, especially the visitors with children. When Disney staff do this it gives the parents a greater sense of security for their children and themselves. With information booths and staff running around everywhere in costumes the visitors feel safe, especially the visitors with children. If a child gets separated from their parents, it will not be long before the child is returned or kept in a safe place until their parents are located. These are some of the reasons that Disney is a safe and pleasurable place for a family vacation. There is no perceivable danger to the visitors in a trip to Disney World.

The world of technology also affects the visitors and workers at Disney. Through great advances in technology, Disney is a safe and almost crime free environment. With the use of surveillance cameras and new technology for rides and other attractions, Disney is a fairly safe place. There are surveillance cameras on the rides to ensure that unruly guests will not exit or disturb the attractions. With this technology making the environment inside Disney safer, the visitors feel safer. The technology at Disney also keeps dishonest and delinquent employees out of trouble. I am sure that the employees are watched as much if not more than the visitors are. If an employee decides to wonder off and take a break on the clock or “skim” a little amount of money out of the cash register someone will notice. This gives not only the employees a sense of a safe environment to work in; it also gives the visitors the same feeling. If the employees at Disney are honest and accountable, the visitors will feel safer being there.

As described in Inside the Mouse, when a visitor is on the bus going to Disney they do not go through downtown to get there. The bus takes the scenic route to Disney. By making Disney’s location away from the city, in a scenic and pleasurable place the visitors almost get the sense that they are in another world. The location of the Disney parks, in a pleasurable place, makes the visitors forget about their worries. The visitors feel safe in this utopia, not having to worry about the daily routine of life or work. The placement of the parks by Disney had to be strategically planed. The nice sunny and tropical environments, lying on the beach, staying at a leisurely resort, these all give the visitors a new identity, a care free identity. By having a worry and carefree environment for their visitors, Disney invokes a sense of security and safety. This pleasurable environment with a sense of safety influences the choices of the visitors to return to Disney, most will return.

The social controls of conformity and standards of behavior go hand in hand. When the adult visitors enter Disney World, it takes them back into their childhood years, influencing their identities. The adult visitors ride the rides and eat cotton candy, just as they did when they visited the park as children. It gives them a carefree and fun identity. They conform to the standards of behavior of having fun and being happy. The children that visit the park do not have to conform to these standards because the standards are already set at the children’s level.

Disney is one of the most powerful and rich corporations in the nation and can easily control the visitors through these social controls and norms set upon the visitors. Disney gives the visitors a safe and secure environment to take their family on vacation, influencing them the whole time.

Based on the book, lecture, and discussions I would have to choose public governmental institutions to regulate future social environments. The use of private corporate institutions is becoming too wide spread in America today. Corporations control everything in our world, from transportation to amusement parks to public gathering places. When corporations control our world there is no sense of national pride, and the people give up their rights as citizens of a country that is ruled by corporations. Corporations can make their own rules and regulations and enforce them however they please. If things are ran by the government, a sense of equalization is achieved. There are equal rules and regulations for everyone everywhere. The people have rights under governmental control, rights to keep themselves safe and secure. Under the control of corporations, the people lose these rights to the corporations. Giving the citizens less control over what they do and how they do it. The corporations tell them what they can and can not do, through corporate manuals and guide books. Although most people feel safer in a corporate controlled environment, they do not realize that they are giving up these rights. They give up their rights for the sense of safety, but in reality, their lives and identities are only being manipulated and influenced by the corporations. I believe that the public governmental institutions where equality id the baseline, is the best and only choice to regulate future social environments based on the ideas I have presented.