McDonaldization

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McDonaldization is a term used by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society (1995). He describes it as the process by which a society takes on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization, or moving from traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management. Where Max Weber used the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, Ritzer sees the fast-food restaurant as having become a more representative paradigm contemporarily (Ritzer, 2004:553).

Ritzer highlighted four primary components of McDonaldization:

Efficiency - the optimal method for accomplishing a task
Calculability - objective should be quantifiable (i.e. sales) rather than subjective (i.e. taste)
Predictability - standardized and uniform services
Control - standardized and uniform employees, replacement of human by non-human technologies

With these four processes, a strategy which is rational within a narrow scope can lead to outcomes that are harmful or irrational.

The process of McDonaldization can be summarized as the way in which "the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world.” (Ritzer, 1993:1).

In subsequent publications, Ritzer conceptualized a cultural process he labeled "de-McDonaldization" as a reaction to McDonaldization, and cited modern baseball stadia with simulated nostalgic features as one example for this phenomenon.

Alternatively, McDonaldization can refer to the replacement of traditional restaurants with McDonald's.

[edit] See also

eat my tat rashed

[edit] References

The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer (ISBN 0-7619-8812-2)

McDonaldization: The Reader by George Ritzer (ISBN 0-7619-8767-3)

The McDonaldization Thesis: Explorations and Extensions by George Ritzer (ISBN 0-7619-5540-2)

McDonaldization of America's Police, Courts, and Corrections by Matthew B. Robinson
McCitizens by Bryan Turner
Resisting McDonaldization ed. Barry Smart
Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia by James L. Watson
Sociology of Consumption: Fast Food, Credit Cards and Casinos ed. George Ritzer
The McDonaldization of Higher Education Ed. Dennis Hayes & Robert Wynyard