In the book titled ‘McDonaldization of Society,” author George Ritzer takes a look at the concept of McDonaldization pervasive in our modern society, and shows how it not only impacts our economic forces but also a multitude of fronts of our societal system. According to the author, McDonaldization is defined as the “process by which the principles of fast food restaurants are coming to dominate more and more sectors of the American society, as well as the rest of the world”. Ritzer denotes McDonaldization as the contemporary version of rationalization, a term put forth by Max Weber. He uses McDonalds as a prime example of how a large, formal organization concerns itself with being highly efficient and having social control, but ends up dehumanizing employees and the work in the process. Not only has McDonalds completely built itself from this system, but other fast food restaurants, industries like toy stores, childcare, and the education system are slowly starting to follow McDonald’s path to success. No longer is McDonalds known simply as a fast food restaurant; instead it has become a symbol of our society’s culture. Within the book, the author outlines four major factors that can explain the success behind the concept of McDonaldization. These factors are mainly based on the premise of rationality, and the mentality of US society to always be mobile and fast paced to complete a seemingly endless number of daily tasks. The first factor Ritzer examines is efficiency, which refers to how quickly McDonalds can get a customer through their restaurant and satisfy their needs while using the least amount of effort and cost possible. This type of focus put forth on efficiency is translated into several other processes many of us a... ... middle of paper ... .... They have successfully entered foreign markets through their success and reputation, which made it easier for local communities to readily accept their standardized processes and consider it a food of their own. They had the resources to transform local companies to similar versions of themselves, and spreading the concept of McDonaldization further on a global scale. Not only have they changed the operational aspect of local firms, but they have also adapted in some of their own ways. For instance, when entering the Indian market, McDonalds offered more vegetarian options and excluded beef from their menu, which they do not do in the North American market. McDonalds kept their processes standardized and basic items the same, but they do understand the importance of adapting to the culture of their target market given the differences in tastes and preferences.
In today’s world, technology and current norms drive a large portion of everyday life that the vocabulary becomes a common universal language. For example, if you don’t know or understand something, just “google” or ask “siri” about it, write a “blog” about a recent experience, or witnessed the latest “post” that has received over 1.6K “likes”. George Ritzer describes the same thing with the fast food restaurant McDonald’s in his video “The McDonaldization of Society”. He defines McDonaldization as the process by which principles of the fast food restaurant have begun to overflow and dominate all aspects of our world.
McDonaldization is becoming the new wave of job types where workers are being deskilled, dehumanized and exploited. Machines are taking over tasks which the employees used to do such as bank machines (interact). The McDonaldized jobs now instead of making the employee do all the work they have the customer working too, for example when the customer cleans up after eating. These jobs are becoming less interactive and personal because workers are becoming dehumanized and only allowed to follow a script, there is also the fact that fast food Company’s use drive through, where limited interaction occurs and are many restrictions. These types of jobs which the author George Ritzer labeled “McJobs” are run by organizational principals such as; efficiency, uniformity, predictability and control.
sociologist George Ritzer argues that the relationship between McDonald’s and our society runs even deeper. Beyond its commercial propaganda and symbolism, Ritzer says, McDonald’s is a potent manifestation of the rational processes that define modern society.
when you become trapped you are in the proverbial iron cage, this is where the rotting of life starts to move a lot faster.
In the book Fast Food Nation: The Darks Side of the All-American Meal, Eric Schlosser claims that fast food impacts more than our eating habits, it impacts “…our economy, our culture, and our values”(3) . At the heart of Schlosser’s argument is that the entrepreneurial spirit —defined by hard work, innovation, and taking extraordinary risks— has nothing to do with the rise of the fast food empire and all its subsidiaries. In reality, the success of a fast food restaurant is contingent upon obtaining taxpayer money, avoiding government restraints, and indoctrinating its target audience from as young as possible. The resulting affordable, good-tasting, nostalgic, and addictive foods make it difficult to be reasonable about food choices, specifically in a fast food industry chiefly built by greedy executives.
According to Royle (1999) McDonald’s is a very large multinational enterprise (MNE) and the largest food service operation in the world. Currently the company has 1.5 million workers with 23,500 stores in over 110 countries with the United Kingdom and Germany amongst the corporation’s six biggest markets, and over 12,000 restaurants in the United States. In 1974 the United Kingdom corporation was established and in 1971 the Germany corporation was established, currently the combined corporation has over 900 restaurants and close to 50,000 employees in each of these countries (Royle, 1999).
The term“McDonalization” is invented by the sociologist George Ritzer(cited in, p180), indicating the power of the spreading trend of America culture. In the book The McDonaldization of Society, Ritzer argues that fast food restaurants are becoming dominated and have profoundly affected other sectors not only in America but also in the rest of the world. Showing from the statistics, McDonald’s has expanded to over 31,000 restaurants worldwide within the last fifty years (N.E. Dollahite & J. Haun, p180). In the big cities of a country, McDonald’s is everywhere: on the main streets, in the shopping centers, around tourist attractions. McDonald’s is so popular that in China, take a simple example, it’s not surprising to see a 5-year-old child clearly knows the menu of McDonald’s and is addicted to French fries and hamburgers. Many of them even view their trips to McDonald’s as the rewards from their parents for good
...nancially as well as politically globalized. McDonalds has a ripple effect as it serves more than one purpose to the country. It allows the country to be globalized. It represents a common interest in one area (North America) spreading throughout the world.
"Studying McDonald's ABroad: Overseas Branches Merge Regional Preferences, Corporate Directives." Editorial. Nations Restaurant News 11 Nov. 2005: n. pag. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 5 Mar. 2013.
RITZER, G (2008) The McDonaldisation of Society (5th edition) London: Sage. (Ch. 3 – Efficiency)
In the assigned readings, few concepts and ideas have been discussed: Cultural Imperialism, Globalism and Local Cultures, Transnationalism and the Multi-local Corporation and McDonaldization versus Localization. The reading also provided a brief history (the timing) of McDonald’s expands in East Asia and also explained the Rationalization of McDonald’s (i.e. McDonaldization) and it’s Local Sensitivities.
McDonalds also uses diversification in its global marketing. McDonalds recognizes that different countries have different values, customs, and tastes. Therefore, McDonalds satisfies these diverse global tastes by diversifying the menu according to each country’s unique preferences. This added diversification tactic, allows McDonalds to stay competitive in a global market. Examples of McDonalds globally diversified menu would be that McDonalds offers an exclusive beefless menu to its customers who live in India. This is because eating beef in India is sacrilegious. To meet the tastes of customers in India, McDonalds created new offerings such as the “Pizza McPuff” and the “McVeggie.” McDonalds considers the cultural tastes in every country it opens its doors
In today’s market, McDonalds faces numerous challenges such as fierce competition, a more health conscious customer, and the continual need for improved customer satisfaction and menu. McDonalds needs to go through some changes in order to remain ahead in the fast-food industry.
McDonalds is one of the world’s largest fast food chains, feeding many people for low prices. What people don’t understand is what is actually
Vignali, C. (2001). McDonald’s: “think global, act local”--the marketing mix. British Food Journal, 103(2), pp.97--111.