McDonalization

2 Pages 613 Words

McDonald’s is a huge fast-food restaurant chain that you can find all over the world. You can go to China or to Europe no matter where you are at you will be able to find a McDonald’s. McDonald’s is not just a fast food restaurant in the United States, but it is more a symbol of our way of life.
...McDonaldization,...is 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 of the rest of the world. (Ritzer 1993)
The central concepts employed in the fast-food industry have spread to all types of restaurants. Everything from pizza to lobster, from ice cream to bread, from alcohol to fried chicken is dominated by the chain mentality. It’s not only the food industry that represents this process of McDonalization. Toy stores (Toys R’ Us), bookstores (Barnes and Noble), newspapers (USA Today), and learning (Sylvan Learning Centers) have all followed this process. All these developments have four things in common according to George Ritzer (1993) efficiency, calculability, uniformity and predictability, and control through automation.
Efficiency means the choosing of means to reach a specific end rapidly, with the least amount of cost or effort. The idea of efficiency is specific to the interests of the industry or business, but is typically advertised as a benefit to the customer. There are plenty of examples drive up windows, ATMs, self-service gas pumps, and even scanning our own groceries. Efficiency is the central way of our life, and we think that if it is done quickly that makes the changes positive.
“Calculability involves an emphasis on things that can be calculated, counted, quantified. Quantification refers to a tendency to emphasize quantity rather than quality. This leads to a sense that quality is equal to certain, usually (but not always) large quantities of things." (Ritzer 1994)” This includes such things as th...