McDonaldization About seven months ago, I met an American guy who had arrived at New Zealand just a few days before. While exchanging our sentiments (I am from Japan) on New Zealand and its culture, the guy told me how he was surprised to see the country is so Americanised, mentioning McDonald’s as one of the examples. Now, in a different sense, this was surprising to me, too. I had never had the idea that having McDonald’s is being Americanised. In fact, McDonald’s is nearly everywhere in the world so that many people think it has already become part of their own cultures. But then the question arises: How did this come to be the case? Here is a brief outline of its history (based on Hebert, 1997; McDonald’s Corp., 1997; Mclennan, 1996). History In 1937, McDonald’s was founded as a small local restaurant by two brothers, Maurice and Richard McDonald in Pasadena, California. In 1948, the brothers then converted their barbecue drive-in with car hops into limited-menu, self-service drive-in, in San Bernardino, California - the first advent of quick service restaurant industry. It is in April 1955, however, that the real ‘McDonald’s Corporation’ launched, by a salesman called Ray Kroc, who gained exclusive US franchising rights from the brothers. Starting with Des Plaines, Illinois, McDonald’s rapidly extended its outlets first over the Chicago area, then the US and eventually all over the world, including two largest restaurants in Moscow (1990) and Beijing (1992), both with 700 seats. There are currently over 21,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries (and about 100 in New Zealand), and the 1996 year-end systemwide sales reached 31.812 billion dollars, 59 percent of which came from the outside of the US. McDonaldization The worldwide business of McDonald’s is not just a globalisation of its economy. In his book, ‘The McDonaldization of Society,’ the American sociologist Dr. George Ritzer (1993, cited by Allan, 1997) contends that it also represents the process of rationalisation - “... the master concept of Max Weber’s analysis of modern capitalism, referring to a variety of related processes by which every aspect of human action became subject to calculation, measurement and control” (Abercrombie, Hill & Turner, 1988, p.902, cited by Allan, 1997). According to Ritzer, McDonaldization can be understood in terms of the following aspects: (1) Eff... ... middle of paper ... ...t Since I am not a sociology-major student, my understanding of McDonaldization may not be accurate, and I certainly do not have a clue on whether such phenomena are good or bad. Still, the point I want to make here is clear: Our societies are increasingly reigned by global standards, which profoundly affect the way we think, process information, and interact with others. (Yes, I know this is a kind of cliché in psychology.) Without doubt, McDonald’s and its ideas define part of our lives, and across cultures, we definitely share certain commonalities, both materially and psychologically. The only concern that remains, however, is the fact that the standardisation is typically based on the fashion preferred by those who are socially affluent or culturally dominant. In this regard, the same is true for the ‘internet’ system. Surely, this technology is a revolutionary tool that not only removes boundaries from the realms of our social interactions, but also pushes further the potential of human cognitive development. Nonetheless, information found on the net is the product of people who have access to computers, with inevitable reflection of their own personal or social viewpoints.
In his video, Ritzer identifies four main principles of McDonaldization: predictability, calculability, efficiency, and control.
McDonaldization is the process in which the principles of popular fast food companies such as McDonald’s are appearing throughout the world in many aspects of our modern society. As McDonaldization sweeps across the globe, The authors of McDonaldization Revisited argue that “‘Americanisation’ is so often a synonym for cultural decline” (Alfino, Caputo, & Wynyard , 1998, p. 8). George Ritzer claims that this is due to the rationalization of society as McDonaldization is meant to signify the optimal fusion of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control (Ritzer, 2011). The intricacies of the human touch are utterly eliminated from this process, and what is left is an uninviting, cold, and unforgiving concept. When the novelty of something so foreign and American wears off, adaptation is needed to sustain one’s position in other countries. One research design type that researchers might utilize to view McDonaldization would be observation of the adaptation and cultural assimilation across different parts the world. This can be measured with ethnographies, the systematic study of the customs of people and cultures.
"McDonaldization.com - What Is It?" McDonaldization.com - What Is It? Rogue Valley Group, 2009. Web. 15 Mar. 2014. .
National Restaurant Association. 2013 Restaurant Industry Pocket Factbook. Rep. National Restaurant Association, 2013. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
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.
Hamlet was very disappointed with his life because he knew that becoming king was one thing that he didn't have in common with his father, because his stepfather was king, “married with my uncle, my father's brother" (I. ii. 151-2). Hamlet was very upset by his mother's marriage, and as he learns later, his father was as well, "It is not nor it cannot come to good: But break, my heart; for I must hold my tongue" (I. ii. 157-8). The ghost of Hamlet's father advises his own opinion, "Let not the royal bed of Denmark be A couch for luxury and damned incest" (I. v. 82-3).
From just one restaurant in San Bernadino, California, run by two brothers, McDonald’s has grown to become the best known and most popular fast food restaurant chain in the world.
RITZER, G (2008) The McDonaldisation of Society (5th edition) London: Sage. (Ch. 3 – Efficiency)
Malone, Elizabeth, and George Ritzer. "Globalization Theory: Lessons from the Exportation of McDonaldization and the New Means of Consumption." Amerstud (2008): 97-112. Web. 26 Apr 2011. .
conduct of Hamlet’s madness is too ludicrous” and in fact he has really gone mad
It all begins when Hamlet discovers that his father was murdered by his own brother. He
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).
Have you ever wondered how the business empire of McDonalds was started? With over ninety nine billion served, it was started in 1940 in San Bernardino, California. It was started off as just a Bar-B-Q that served just twenty items. Its first mascot was named “Speedee” They eventually realized that by setting up their kitchen like an assembly line that they could be much more productive and get their food done faster, with every employee doing a specified job; the restaurants production rate became much higher. A milkshake machine vendor came into their small restaurant one day, his name was Ray Kroc. He saw how much potential the restaurant has, so he bought it out and opened one of the first franchises. Within the first year of Ray Kroc buying it, there were one hundred and two locations all around the world. McDonalds currently is one of the largest fast food restaurants in the world and currently has served over sixty four million customers through one of their thirty two thousand sites. It has almost become a way of life for America. Though, McDonalds started off as a small business between two brothers, it grew into one of the largest restaurant franchises in the world and greatly affects our society and how we eat our food.
McDonald’s restaurant was founded by two brothers, Richard and Maurice (Dick and Mac) McDonald, in 1940. They initially opened the restaurant under the name McDonald’s Barbeque which was located in San Bernardino, California. The McDonald brothers had a vision of a drive-in restaurant that focused on quality food and good service. They served a simple menu consisting of 20-25, mainly barbeque, items. In 1948 after eight years of operations the McDonald 's brothers discovered that the majority of their revenue was coming from hamburgers. With this in mind, they decided to change the menu and set their focus mainly on hamburgers. They also changed the name of the restaurant to simply “McDonald’s” and adopted an assembly line approach in the production process. After continued
Its history spans almost 80 years when it started at Corbin (Kentucky-USA), in the 1930s. During this period the United States was under The Great Depression with almost 25% unemployment rate. The hard time was probably one of the biggest factor in forcing Harland Sanders ("The Colonel") to start experimenting with various mix of spices and herbs, trying to get the best formula for his recipe. (If we still remember the Asian Economic Crash 1997-2002, one of the last remaining business that kept going during the recession was the food industry).