The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism

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' 'McDonaldization of Society'...is the current exemplar for future developments in rationalization.' Ritzer (2005) introduced Weber's (1958) theory of rationalization in which Weber believed that the modern society is being rationalized. Ritzer (2005) then specified 5 essential components in the theory. Those are efficiency, predictability, calculability, substitution of non-human for human technology, and control over uncertainty. He noted that McDonaldization is not only influencing the operation of the fast food industry in America, but also the other aspects of society, including family, travel and leisure, and even to the rest of the world. When enjoying the benefits being brought, it is also vital that people should not be distracted away from the dangers behind the progressive rationality. Ritzer (2005) noted that, 'We are ultimately concerned with the irrational consequences flow from rational systems. And this can be termed as 'the irrationality of rationality'.' Several negative effects of rationalization were discussed. For instance, predictability is highly wanted as people not expecting surprises. They get limited menu to choose from to reduce uncertainty when entering a fast food restaurant to. Whatever food consumed are mostly indistinguishable from one chain store to another. On the other hand, Chapman (2002) introduced us with another word-to-mouth article which focus on how politics, culture, capitalism and globalization are correlated. Demonstrations and international social movements have become more frequent due to resistance to corporate dominance. In his article, Chapman paid tribute to Klein's (2000) work as Klein gave voice to young generation about politics. Klein (2000) mentioned that mu... ... middle of paper ... ...parched and land poisoned. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2003/jul/25/water.india [2] Chapman, S. (2002). In the Age of No Logo. Sociology Review 11 (4): 23-26. [3] Held, D., McGrew, A., Goldblatt, D., & Perraton, J. (1999). Global Transformations: Politics, Economics, and Culture. California: Stanford University Press [4] Klein, N. (2000). No Logo, New York: Picador [5] Phillpott, T. (2013, January 25). Quinoa: good, evil, or just really complicated?. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/jan/25/quinoa-good-evil-complicated [6]Ritzer, G. (2005). The McDonaldisation of Society, In Mapping the Social Landscape: Readings in Sociology, edited by Susan J. Ferguson. Boston: McGraw Hill. [7] Weber, M. (1958). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. New York: Scribner

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