McDonaldization
McDonaldization is the process by which a society takes on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. The term was coined by sociologist George Ritzer, who wrote the book The McDonaldization of Society. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization, or moving from traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management. Where 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
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).
It can also refer to the replacement of traditional restaurants with McDonald's.
See also
- McWords
- McJob
- McMansion
- McWorld
- Coca colonialism
- organizational studies
- Super Size Me (movie)
- Fast Food Nation
Literature on McDonaldization
- The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer
- "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