geopractice

Ritzer's McDonaldization

What is McDonaldization?

McDonaldization is the term invented by George Ritzer to describe a sociological phenomenon that is happening in our society.

Definition: 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.

Four Goals of McDonaldization:

Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Control

1. Efficiency 
 -- Rational calculation of best cost effective mode of production. The optimum method of completing a task. The rational determination of the best mode of production. Cheapest per unit price. Individuality is not allowed.
 
2. Calculability 
-- (or quantity rather than quality) Assessment of outcomes based on quantifiable rather than subjective criteria. In other words, quantity over quality. Therefore, they extol the big Mac rather than the good Mac.

3. Predictability 
-- Organize production process to guarantee uniformity of product and standardized outcomes. All shopping malls begin to look the same and all highway exits have the same assortment of businesses.

4. Control 
-- Substitution of more predictable non-human labor for human labor, either through automation or the deskilling of the work force.

The Irrationality of Rationality -- Efficiency for whom? 
McDonalds turns hamburgers into people. With some minor equipment change they could just as easily turn people into hamburgers. One need only look at the transformation of peaceful German industries into the suppliers in of the technology that made the Holocaust possible. Rational organizations are not immoral, but amoral.

Disenchantment with the World? -- Efficiency for what? Efficiency does not establish purpose. Indeed the assumptions upon which efficiency is based (e.g., empiricism, skepticism, debunking, profit and innovation) undermine traditional reasons that justify and explain the purpose of human existence. The loss of purpose will lead to a rationalized future existence that will imprison us in an "Iron Cage." Weber concludes that "For this last stage of cultural development, it might well be truly said: 'Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.

posted by geopractice @ 6:45 AM