The McDonaldization of Society George Ritzer Ng Hoi Hin, Jack Kong Yee Ki, EK

Outline of presentation Why do we need to talk about bureaucracy? Background information: Bureaucracy Main question and arguments What is Mcdonaldization? Characteristics of Mcdonaldization Contemporary McDonaldization Further discussion

Background information: Bureaucracy

Why do we need to talk about bureaucracy? The elements of McDonaldization are rooted in the concepts of Weber’s bureaucracy. According to George Ritzer, the model of rationalization in present-day America “is no longer the bureaucracy”, but may be better expressed as the fast-food restaurant.

Max Weber: Human societies have been oriented by tradition in the past. In contrast, modern society focuses on “a different form of human consciousness”: rationality. Bureaucracy is the clearest “expression of modern rationality”.

http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=YBCAlZPF0D0

Background information: Bureaucracy 3 What are the characteristics of bureaucracy? Background information: Bureaucracy 3

Background information: Bureaucracy 4 Bureaucracy refers to the structure or set of regulations established to impose control on the activities of an organization or government.  Bureaucratic authority: bureaucracy categorizes people as either followers or subordinates.  How is bureaucracy impersonal?

Discussion questions: Why did Ritzer argue that the model of rationalization “is no longer the bureaucracy”, but may be better expressed as the fast-food restaurant? Do you agree with Ritzer? Why or why not?

Main question and arguments What effects does modernity have on societies? Arguments: Modern societies are getting more and more particular in terms of efficient, predictable, calculable, substitutable, and controllable goods while subconsciously ignoring tradeoffs. What is required “is not a less rational society”, but more control over “the process of rationalization” involving efforts to improve its irrational costs. How can this be achieved?

McDonaldization 1 http://hk.youtube.com/watch?v=Fdy1AgO6Fp4 What is McDonalization? What are the basic principles of McDonalization? What are the trade-offs of McDonalization?

McDonaldization 2: What is Mcdonaldization? It is a process by which the characteristics of the fast food restaurants are coming to take over more and more sectors of American society and the world. What are these characteristics?

Discussion questions: What is the problem of having rationalization in society? (Ritzer also mentioned there are many benefits of rationalization.) What can be the counterarguments?

McDonaldization 3: efficiency Emphasis on finding the best or most advantageous means to achieve any given goals. Trade-off: too concerned with efficiency  lose sight of the ultimate goals. Can you think of any example from daily life experiences?

McDonaldization 4: predictability People “want to know what to expect” when they enter a particular setting or acquire certain commodity. Things are same from one time to another time or one place to another place. Trade-off: lives without any mystery or excitement. Critics: Can Mcdonaldization also allow more diversity around the world? While there is fast expansion of the fast-food restaurants, there is also huge expansion of independent restaurants in the U.S.. (Depends on perspectives: food diversity v.s. principles of McDonaldization) (Author did not argue McDonaldization will cause total homogenization.)

McDonaldization 5: calculability Emphasis on quantifiable measures (quantity rather than quality) Trade-off: - quality of life is being compromised in exchange for profitability and convenience. How about other aspects in society such as churches?

McDonaldization 6: substitution of nonhuman technology To eliminate unforeseen human behavior. Emphasis on nonhuman technology. E.g. drink dispensers. Taking of skills away from people. Trade-off: The society is dehumanized. People are not allowed to design methods to solve problems.

McDonaldization 7: control Control over uncertainties of life. (control over employees and customers) Trade-off: a totally rational society would be an extremely dull and uninteresting place. Critics: While over one billion people in the world are starving, is the article just about a trivial issue? (It might not be the most important problem but it is a process that is expanding.)

McDonaldization 8: irrationality of rationality Inefficiency and unpredictability can also be produced by seemingly rational systems. Dehumanization “Lives without any mystery or excitement”

Contemporary McDonaldization McDonaldization is occurring throughout the U.S. and other societies. It is spreading to “every sector of society”. Can you think of other segments of our lives that McDonaldization has expanded to?

Why is “The McDonaldization of Society” significant? While Weber and other classical theorists applied their theories to the realm of production or related organizations, “The McDonaldization of Society” turns the focus to consumption. It raises the awareness that McDonaldization is gradually overtaking societies. It influences the way society and its people look at future prospects. McDonaldization is becoming so predominant that it drives everything else out!

Restating our argument: Modern societies are becoming more and more particular in terms of characteristics of McDonalization whereas subconsciously ignoring tradeoffs. Need for much more control over “the process of rationalization” involving efforts to improve its irrational costs.

Further discussion The techniques used by McDonald’s (rationalisation, standardisation, globalisation) have come to epitomize all aspects of modern life! What are the driving forces behind McDonaldization and the effects of modernity? Has consumption replaced production as the center of society in developed countries? In what way? The challenge now is, to what extent will bureaucracy or McDonaldization dictate society? Under what circumstances could McDonaldization be controlled? Is it that people are so used to it that they digest everything dictated by bureaucratic governance?   

‘Our century, which began and has developed under the insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took it as its life model. We are enslaved by speed and have succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods. …Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.’ Manifesto of the Slow Food movement

Perspective 1: Emphasizing Consumers In explaining these changes, should we emphasize choice, individualisation and identity creation? I. Woodward (2007), ‘Consumption and Lifestyle’ in J. Germov and M. Poole eds, Public Sociology, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, p. 157 The key issue today facing us ‘relates to a range of individualized issues: the problem of consumer choice amid abundance, establishing a viable social and self-identity through one’s consumption practices’

Perspective 2: Emphasizing Producers Or should we emphasize the way in which our choices are shaped and structurally constrained? ‘The food industry has taken hold of our eating and the eating has become worse because they are only interested in profit and price… So many people must be missing out on what good food tastes like and they must get terribly dissatisfied’. Modern capitalism might bring us riches but it gives me indigestion right here. ‘The values, tastes, and industrial practices of the American fast food industry are being exported to every corner of the globe, helping to create a homogenized international culture that sociologist Benjamin R. Berber has labelled “McWorld”’. E. Schlosser (2001), Fast Food Nation, London, Penguin, p. 229 M. Symons, in Sydney Morning Herald, ‘Good Living’ 26 February, 2007 Karl Marx

Perspective 3: Emphasizing producers and consumers Perspective 3: Emphasizing producers and consumers! What about the consumed?