The Mcdonaldization of Society

With the processes of McDonaldization spreading into other parts of society such as, higher education, the health system, shopping centers, media, religion, work, in modern society’s new social and cultural characteristics are created. For example, when a McDonald’s enters a country or neighborhood its consumer patterns are unified that cultural hybridization occurs. For the most part, Ritzer uses Weber's conception of the irrationality of rationalization, of the ways that it comes to contradict its own goals, to reprimand McDonaldization, thus developing an innate critique of the irrationalities that are produced by McDonaldization. In this section, by contrast, I will develop a multi-perspective position to develop a more systematic and contextual

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

In Paul Feine’s essay “McBastards: McDonald’s and globalization”, he addresses the negative views that many foreign cultures have about McDonald’s. He divides the essay into four sections. By breaking down the essay, he clearly shows his audience the ways in which the world views McDonald’s. He discussed the idea of cultural imperialism and the negative effects on foreign cultures, but shows the reader that these views may not be accurate. He ended his essay with a paragraph focusing on how McDonald’s brings people together.

Who is the sociologist given credit for coining the concept of the McDonaldization of Society?

There is no denying that fact. Due to its principles, a multitude of things have been created that do in fact benefit our society. However, when viewed comparatively, the McDonaldization of our society is more negative than it is positive. The four concepts, efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control have influenced the vast majority of people, and has done so in a negative manner. The American people lack ambition.

4. The McDonaldization of society is the idea of creating a uniform set of standards to be followed “similar to an assembly line with

When faced with the task of providing nutritious and healthy food to a large population, the American government seems to neglect both ideas; instead, we are fed diseased, pesticized food concepts. Why concepts? Because the food we eat daily is a mere reminder that general American health means nothing, and large profits are everything. Food is now mass produced, the idea of farms and mills have been completely removed from the process of food making and replaced with machines and large factories. Though we think we have escaped this concept of Mcdonaldization regarding our food, we have not, the food industry continues to practice this basic infrastructure: Control, Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability,

I agree with the general stance of the author, and that is that I am extremely suspicious of McDonaldization and whether it is really a harm to society rather than a blessing. I disagree with three of the five key elements of McDonaldization, those being predictability, calculability, and control by non-human technologies. Firstly, by making the daily interactions of life more and more predictable, life loses some of its meaning. People are meant to confront all different types of situations and interactions to get a feel for the possibilities of life. For example, in the case of home-cooked meals, if people were not to occasionally receive a meal which was bad tasting, how would they be able to appreciate a really delicious meal. The whole idea of predictability goes against our ‘human-ness’, because we were all created to perform differently. Secondly, calculability leads to a belief that quantity is more important than quality. According to Ritzer, “In terms of processes, the emphasis is on speed(usually high), whereas for end results the focus is on the number of products served(usually large).”(pg. 59) In my opinion, the reason the majority of Americans are overweight is because of this “bigger is better” theory. The quality of other things is also affected in this way, such as of education, healthcare, and general productivity in a business. Thirdly, I think the increasing use

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.

George Ritzer describes McDonaldization as “the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world”. McDonaldization is the idea that our society is becoming more efficient and more fast paced. Rational systems can be defined as “unreasonable, dehumanizing systems that deny the humanity, the human reason, of the people who work within them or are served by them”.1 Today there are many types of businesses that are increasingly adapting the same values and principles of the fast-food industry to their needs. Rational systems are dehumanizing our society and seem to be even more irrational than convenient. “Almost every aspect of

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.

The McDonaldization theory defines the process of which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world (Ritzer 1). Within McDonaldization there are five different concepts embedded into this theory, which are efficiency, calculability, predictability, control and lastly irrationality of rationality. These concepts are not just used in fast-food restaurants, but are becoming more