McDonaldization Essay

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

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,

Ritzer also included a fifth aspect of McDonaldization, irrationality of rationality. He thinks that rationalization is spiraling out of control. According to Ritzer, McDonaldization seems irrational because it tends to be a dehumanizing system. The theory of rationalization involve the replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society with rational, calculated ones. The theory aims at increasing efficiency by bettering use of existing

However, in many spheres of society, such efficiency is defined for the sake of the industry or business, and people are

When I was a high school student, my friends and I would grab something to eat afterschool. We went to McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC etc. It was close to the school and we could afford the food there. As we all know, fast food restaurants are not healthy and most of the fast foods are high in fat and low in nutrition. We go there knowing that but we love it because we expect to find the same food, the same amount, and at the same value anywhere we go. It’s predictable and calculable and efficient. George Ritzer developed this theory of McDonaldization to show how we consume fast food. Ritzer makes the point that when our lives becomes McDonaldized, the result is often one of irrationality. The idea of being irrational certaintly seems

Technologies have had a great impact in society, since there is innovation in software and hardware, we can say that technologies are moving the world, and that as time passes there are new tools for better communication... but is actually better? The society is surrounded by new technologies, currently, of every 10 young 7 between 16 and 24 years are connected to the network at least once a week. The most used program is the Messenger (instant messaging programs), which constitutes a means of communication which prolongs the relations between people, the efficacy of the McDonaldization to the reduction of time and effort that mediate between a desire or need and our satisfaction. The irrationality of the McDonaldization is that people

In the realm of sociological theories Max Weber characterized several essential characteristics of bureaucratic forms of organization. A bureaucracy is a system in which important decisions are made by the officials rather than the representatives.These essential characteristics did not just fade away but were later applied and somewhat enhanced by George Ritzer in his theory to McDonaldization in The McDonaldization of Society. Not only did these sociological thinkers like Weber and Ritzer show how the characteristics apply to one another but also noted the discontents with bureaucracy and was evidenced in the literary works such as Kafka’s “Before the Law” and also Melville’s “Bartelby”.

On Wednesday, August 23rd, I observed a local McDonald’s operations, services, and customers. Based off of my observations, I can confirm George Ritzer’s points on the ideas of McDonaldization, being efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control, that enable not only this restaurant but our society to be rationalized. Even so, this restaurant exemplified Ritzer’s research on irrationalities. Using these points, I will demonstrate exactly how Franklin Street’s McDonald’s truly fits into Ritzer’s ideas and ways of thinking.

According to Ashley Crossman , “fast-food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world.” This can be summed up with one term, McDonaldization. As a way to easily describe the changes that society was going through, George Ritzer used this as a tool to understand the sociological phenomenon that was upon society. Efficiency, predictability and calculability. According to Ritzer, efficiency is the process of "...choosing the optimum means to a given end." (p.36) Predictability "...emphasizes such things as discipline, order, systematization, formalization, routine, consistency, and methodical operation. In such a society, people prefer to know what to expect in most settings and at most times."(p.79) Calculability “…of outcomes based on quantifiable rather than subjective criteria.” In other words, according to Ritzer, “quantity over quality. They sell the Big Mac, not the Good Mac.”

In The McDonaldization of Society, author George Ritzer expands on Max Weber’s idea of rationalization. It provides an analysis of the impact of structural change on human interaction and how the fast food industry has come to dominate the American society. Max Weber’s idea of rationalization meant that traditional ways were being replaced with efficiency and thus lacked social interaction. Weber used the bureaucracy to further his explanation, which was impersonal and had many rules. In the book, Ritzer coins the term McDonaldization, which means “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” (Ritzer 1). The term is composed of four overall themes: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. These themes are talked about in detail in the book.

The McDonaldization Thesis presupposes some familiarity with sociologist George Ritzer's earlier work, The McDonaldization of Society (1993), in which he defines 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". These principles include efficiency, predictability, calculability (or an emphasis on quantification), and control (especially via non-human technologies). All of these combined constitute the formal rationality or basis that makes up McDonaldization. In his works, Ritzer continues to alarm many by depicting McDonaldization as "a largely one-way process in which a series of American innovations are

What Ritzer does so well in this book is show the extent to which many of these most ordinary aspects of contemporary American life are seen within the McDonaldizing framework in which structure and system become more important than content and therefore, since the content is not as important to humans today, children continue to consume these foods. At the same time, Ritzer’s account of the rationalizing logics of the McDonaldization system are fruitful for thinking through the ways in which bureaucratic structures work in today’s commercialized, globalized world.

McDonald's has a goal of 100% total customer satisfaction£¬ this goal is not always attainable. McDonald's has a second company goal that sets them apart from most of their competitors.

A visit to McDonald’s is an interesting assignment. McDonald’s organization is a clear example of mechanistic management, also is known as the Frederick Maslow Tylor Classical Perspective the mechanistic management. This perspective combines both Max Weber bureaucracy theory and hierarchical structure and Henri Fayol administrative principals. Mechanism refers to the way management and employees perform their duties. In an organization like McDonald’s, it is clear how this mechanism works. If one needs to describe how McDonald’s implement this mechanism one can go to any of their establishments and observe the overall functions. When a patron visits McDonald’s they know what to expect. In every McDonald’s they have to utilize the same structure.