goerge ritzer's “the mcdonaldization of society

8/18/2019 Goerge Ritzer's “The McDonaldization of Society

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DIZON, KURT ZEUS L. SOCSCI 518MA POLITICAL SCI 1

McDonaldization o Soci!t"

McDonald's is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving about

68 million customers every day in 119 countries through more than 36,000 outlets

!nited "tates "ecurities and #$change %ommission, &016( )e can see that almost

every country as a McDonald outlet( *n the +hiliines alone, McDonald-s has grown

to become one of the country-s leading fast food chains with more than .60

restaurants nationwide McDonalds / +hiliines( *t has become a symbolism of oy

esecially to the iliino children( #very child would as2 to their arents if they could

eat at the McDonalds outlet and order meals( his may be true to other countries( *n

fact all ages would agree that they enoy eating at McDonalds( heir bestsellers

such as their rench fries, 4amburgers and %hic2en are famous not ust locally butglobally( his may be the reason why the customers would always be an avid fan of

their roducts( 5ut one maor factor that increases the growth and e$ansion of

McDonald-s is their "eedee "ervice "ystem7( *t brings the concet of the rst and

modern fast/food restaurant7 boutMcDonalds, &006( he :uic2 and seedy

service of food was introduced and ioneered by the restaurant that later on e$and

not ust in the !nited "tates but also into the world( )ith the sread or e$ansion of

McDonald's ;estaurant into dioerge ;it=er, an merican sociologist wrote a boo2 ertaining to therestaurant( 4is boo2, he McDonaldi=ation of "ociety7 focuses on how McDonalds

become a social henomenon or a rocess in our society( ;it=er borrowed concets

of Ma$ )eber-s wor2 about rationali=ation, it oints to the relacement of traditions,

values, and emotions as motivators for behaviour in society and e$change with

rational, calculated ones 4abermas, 198?( 5asically it is the substitution of rational

or logically constant rules for traditional or illogical rules( he introduction of fast

service of food, the comany-s organi=ational and management system, and their

business methods according to ;it=er illustrates their rationality and results to

e@ciency( *t leads to the term of McDonaldi=ation( McDonaldi=ation is a

reconcetuali=ation or reintroduction of the sociological term rationali=ation7, or

transition from traditional to rational modes of thin2ing, and scientic management(

*t is where )eber used the model of the bureaucracy to symboli=e the direction of

this changing societyA ;it=er erceives the fast/food restaurant as becoming a more

resent/day aradigm ;it=er, &00.( McDonald-s is the model, and we can observe

resently that a lot of big time comanies also have this same tye of

rocessBconcet( ;egardless of the sector they are belongingC food, manufacturers,


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nancial, agriculture, technology, retail, etc(, they incororate such feature of

McDonaldi=ation(

5asically ;it=er introduces four main dimensions or comonents about

McDonaldi=ationC e@ciency, culability, redictability and control( #@ciency is all

about the otimal method for accomlishing a tas2 ;it=er, he McDonaldi=ation of "ociety, &009( or e$amle, team wor2 is the best way to do for delivering

services( )ith much team wor2, the faster the roductivity the faster the

roductivity, the faster the services esecially in roviding and delivering the food(

%alculability oints that obective should be :uantiable rather than subective

;it=er, he McDonaldi=ation of "ociety, &009( he outcome is based on

:uantiable rather than subective measures( 5asically it is :uantity over :uality

ust li2e they sell the 5ig Macs, not the >ood Mac( )e could also consider the

emloyees which are udged by how :uic2 they are and not of the :uality of wor2

they do( +redictability means that no matter where a customer buys, they will

accet the same service and receive the same roduct when with the organi=ation(

*t is somehow of a uniformed and standardi=e outcome( +eole easily redict theroducts of an organi=ation such as the world/famous fries or even the uniform or

greetings of its emloyees( nd lastly is control( *t ertains to the standardi=ed and

uniform emloyees, relacement of human by non/human technologies ;it=er, he

McDonaldi=ation of "ociety, &009(

hese four dimensions can lead to outcomes that are harmful or irrational

which according to ;it=er is the *rrationality of ;ationality7( *t turns out that the

rationali=ation rocess has side/e


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the commodity and the consumer( he McDonaldi=ation rocess creates new social

and cultural characteristics( s for an e$amle, when McDonald-s enters a country

and consumer atterns are unied, cultural hybridi=ation occurs a culture of

consumerism( Madeline Hevine, a sychologist critici=ed what she saw as a large

change in merican culture and the develoing global shere due to consumerism

Ea shift away from values of community, sirituality, and integrity, and towardcometition, materialism and disconnection7 Hevine, &00I( he desirability of the

customers to buy at McDonalds or other caitalistic organi=ation ertains that they

are inJuenced or some would say are oisoned by this rocess( +eole become

narcissistic to such commodity, an invincible force drags us to buy unnecessary

roducts to such businesses or organi=ations( )e have this fast food for e$amle

but fast food is not necessarily good food / in fact, McDonald's food is e$tremely

unhealthy and the taste is average( )e have a lot of consiracy about the rocess

of the food which is a threat esecially to our health( lso we have this 5lac2

riday7 activity where comanies of smarthones oens their new roducts which

customer are cra=ily and dying to buy one( his is a manifestation of the culture of

consumerism( Gne roosition of Mar$ is economic determinism to describe the

whole situation( he economic basis of society determines its social structure as a

whole, as well as the sychology of the eole within Mills, 196&( hese

institutions with their commodity fetishism will always e$loit the lower class in

order to accumulate their caital( )or2ers will always have the chea labor and

lower standards of living comaring to the bourgeoisie or caitalist and also in the

side of consumers, the caitalist will always nd ways on how to e$tract resource

secically monetary from consumer in which the way or the mean is always

e$loitative in nature( *n a modern caitalistic society, these caitalistic institutions

main motivation is heavily relying on monetaryBcaital accumulation rather than

commodity, hence such institutions would now disregard the value of thecommodity( he commodity-s :uality is given less attention, while generating the

rot is the main concern( "o we can see why rit=er ertains this to the irrationality

of rationality( he rationality remains only to those who hold the means of

roduction caitalist, while the irrationality was among the lower classes( Man has

been alienated to his wor2, disillusion to the system and esecially a slave with no

freedom which was chained into the system( 5asically one issue may be class/

conJict, but in achievable sace * thin2 the irrationality may also ertain to the

wor2/ethics of these institutions( * thin2 this could illustrate rit=er-s statement of

the irrationality of rationalityA we become a base of this homogenous structural,

which determines our society and culture( hese rational institutions will alwayswant to dominate, and today in the eriod of globali=ation, the few are growing

stronger and dominating( hrough their domination, we can see harm and threats

against humanity( he cororate greed, the scandals towards their wor2ers, the

massive wealth ine:uality, the e$loitation of resources and man source and such

are very alarming( *f only a lot of us are aware and conscious of our surroundings

esecially in ethical standards of such wor2ing lace( * thin2 we can ght bac2 and


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hoefully bring social ustice esecially for us wor2ers and same time consumers

and educing humanity again(

#i$lio%&a'("

boutMcDonalds( &006(McDonald's History.

;etrieved from McDonaldsChttCBBwww(aboutmcdonalds(comBcontentBmcdBourKcomanyBmcdonalds/

history(html

Dictionary of +hilosohy( 198.( lienation(

5ottomore, ( 1963( #conomic and +hilosohical Manuscrits( *n Karl Marx Early

Writings ( I&( HondonC %(( )atts and %o( Htd(

4abermas, L( 198?( he +hilosohical Discourse of Modernity( %ambridgeC +olity

+ress(

Hevine, M( &00I( %hallenging the %ulture of uence( *n Independent School (&8( )aybac2 Machine(

McDonalds / +hiliines( n(d(( About McDonald's Global History. ;etrieved March

&&, &016, from McDonalds 5#C

httsCBBwww(mcdonalds(com(hBcontentBageBabout

Mills, %( )( 196&( he Mar$ist( hird venue, New For2C Dell +ublishing %o(, *nc(

;it=er, >( &00.( he >lobali=ation of Nothing( housand Ga2sC +ine orge +ress(

;it=er, >( &009( he McDonaldi=ation of "ociety( Hos ngelesC +ine orge +ress(

!nited "tates "ecurities and #$change %ommission( &016, ebruary ?( McDonald's

orporation !"#$ Annual %eport &or. ;etrieved from >oogle inance 5etaC

httsCBBwww(google(comBnanceO

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goerge ritzer's “the mcdonaldization of society

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