Mcdonaldization Of Society By George Ritzer

The investigative journalist, Eric Schlosser, has written a book to illuminate an epidemic that started in America and is now becoming one of the world’s largest problems. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser frames today’s Fast Food giants in history,American entrepreneurialism, and over consumption in respect to consumer and employee wellbeing. The power of all modern Fast Food giants combined have eclipsed the power of any one government. Marketing has become a key component to luring consumers to fast food. Schlosser makes the argument that a once All­American ideal, fast food has grown too big to control.

“In many respects, the fast food industry embodies the best and worst of American capitalism at the start of the twenty-first century – its constant stream of new products and innovations, its widening gulf between gulf between rich and poor” (Schlosser 6). In 2001 Eric Schlosser published “Fast Food Nation.” Eric Schlosser’s early 21st century muckraking text, “Fast Food Nation,” attempts to shed light on the consequences of the fast food industry on American society. The rise and growth of the fast food industry, like the meatpacking industry, illuminates the evolution of the American dream in post-World War II America. “Fast Food Nation” is a book about fast food, the values it embodies, and the world

McDonald’s is the global foodservice business with more than 20,000 local restaurants serving more than 30 million customers each day. McDonald’s has spread through over 100 countries, including countries in East Asia (Watson, 3). In the book “Golden Arches East: McDonald’s in East Asia” by James L. Watson, he studied three countries which were Beijing, Seoul, and Japan. Also, he wrote how McDonald’s has played a role in each countries cultures that he mentioned. He mentioned how different countries McDonald’s share similarities and differences the way cultures were impacted economically and politically, and also, how people viewed the American cultures coming to their countries. In this essay, I’ll be writing about how McDonald’s has been

The way that Burger King and other fast food restaurant chains do business and markets their products to consumers is due to the change in our society to where the consumer wants the biggest, fastest, and best product they can get for their money. This change in society can be attributed to a process known as McDonaldization. Although McDonaldization can be applied to many other parts of our society, this paper will focus on its impact on Burger King and Taco Bell restaurants. My belief is that the process of McDonaldization has lead our generations toward a more a much more efficient lifestyle, with much less quality. From my observations and studies of these fast food resturants, several themes have become

McDonaldization of society- the process by which ordinary aspects of life are rationalized and efficiency comes to rule them, including such things as food preparation p. 173

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

Max Weber used the bureaucracy to represent how the society changes over time whereas Ritzer sees fast food restaurants as a better way to describe how societies change and become more of a contemporary thought pattern. Ritzer understands McDonaldization as a process in which it is slowly taking over the world, he says it can be summarised by just one small quote “the principle of fast food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of the American society as well as the rest of the world” (Ritzer 2008). He states that the past, present and future of McDonalization has appeared from the iron cage to fast food restaurants which shows that rationalisation is still developing, the iron cage is a way to describe it in the past and McDonaldization helps to describe it in today’s society, rationalisation will continue to progress until other contemporary sociologist find different ways to define it. Although McDonaldization offers many advantages as it gives customers quick food at low prices it also has disadvantages just like the bureaucracy they both suffer from irrationality, like fast food restaurants a bureaucracy can be a ‘dehumanising’ place to work and be served by. Many things are developed by technical devises rather than the human hand (Wynyard 1998)

Eric Schlosser is one of the authors who describes the fast food phenomenon in his book Fast Food Nation. According to him, the biggest problem is the fast food industry that is increasing day by day. Fast food has affected not only the restaurants and the market, but also all the sectors of people's life, from the professional life to the personal one. This affirmation is sustained by Schlosser's statement: "Fast food has infiltrated every nook and cranny of American society. " ( Schlosser 3 ) The fast food industry has got into institutions and parts of the world that no one believed would be affected. Moreover, the power of fast food can be seen by taking a look at the American individual, who gives fast food different

Explaining just about one quarter of the United States population eats fast food every day , he claims that fast food restaurants have “not only [changed] the American diet, but also our landscape, economy, work force and popular culture…and the consequences have become inescapable regardless ” how often you eat it ( Schlosser, 2004, p.3). According to DATAMONITOR a market research firm’s Fast Food Industry Profile,” [in] the United States fast food market grew by 0.2% in 2009 to reach a value of $71.4 billion. And, the compound annual growth rate of the market in the period 2005–09 was 3.7%” showing even years after the book was written, fast food continues to take a greater market share of consumer’s food dollars (“Fast Food Industry profile”,2010, pg. 12).

George Ritzer, in his book The McDonaldization of Society, has given a good understanding of the kind of world we live in. He describes the concept of McDonaldization, which is the process in which the principles that form the basis of McDonalds are greatly influencing the rest of society. McDonalds runs its business on the following key elements: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control by non-human technologies. A fifth element, which Ritzer perceives as a disadvantage of McDonaldization, is the irrationality of rationality. This is the idea that a society which is based entirely on rationality is not a normal human society because humans are not

Health care is something that affects every person in this country, and the rising cost is making it nearly impossible for people to afford. In The McDonaldization of Society, George Ritzer shows how the health care industry is changing and how the phenomenon of McDonaldization is effecting how we receive health care. Healthcare has become more efficient, calculable, predictable, and controlling. In the following sections, I will explore further these aspects of McDonaldization and how they relate to the health care industry.

McDonaldization is becoming the new wave of job types where workers are being deskilled, dehumanized and exploited. Machines are taking over tasks which the employees used to do such as bank machines (interact). The McDonaldized jobs now instead of making the employee do all the work they have the customer working too, for example when the customer cleans up after eating. These jobs are becoming less interactive and personal because workers are becoming dehumanized and only allowed to follow a script, there is also the fact that fast food Company’s use drive through, where limited interaction occurs and are many restrictions. These types of jobs which the author George Ritzer labeled

. Through his research which states that by simply neglecting the variety and diversity of consumer practices in different regions and parts of the world and the various uses to which consumers can put McDonaldization, using its products and procedures to serve their own needs. There are many ways Mcdonaldization can be resisted in: social institution, education, the economy, family, as well as religion and military that our society can reverse the effects on the way we live.

McDonaldization involves a process of rationalization described by George Ritzer that is utilized by sociologists (Ritzer 292). Ritzer elaborates the aspect of McDonaldization of society is manifested in situations, for example, where a society adopts the features of a fast-food joints. Worth a note, fast-foods are growing very popular because they highly fits with most individual contemporary lifestyle.

Ritzer closes his contrast of rationalization and McDonaldization by telling how he feels that rationalization has accelerated and increased since Weber's period. The issue of rationalization is much more dominating in our society’s institutions