Social Issues

Is Mcdonaldization Inevitable? George Ritzer’s, Mcdonaldization of Society, is a critical analysis of the impact on social structural change on human interaction and identity. According to Ritzer, Mcdonaldization “is 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 rest of the world” (Ritzer, 1). Ritzer focuses on four foundations of Mcdonaldization: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. These are the commandments of any rationalized corporation. However, they are not carried out from the point of view of the consumer. Efficiency, for example, may entail the placing of great inconveniences upon a consumer for the sake of efficient management. Calculability may involve hiding certain information from the consumer. Predictability and control may involve a company's ability to predict and control consumer behavior, not the consumer's ability to predict what kind of product or control what kind of service he gets. Ritzer calls such breakdowns "the irrationality of rationalization." Ritzer points out the irrationality of rationality, as all of the supposed benefits of Mcdonaldized systems backfire: waiting in long lines, suspect quality, little or no customer service, little or no customer service, the illusion of large quantities for low prices, and severely limited selection of choice. Throughout Mcdonaldization of Society, Ritzer describes Mcdonaldization as largely negative and often destructive. While Mcdonaldization is rapidly taking over American society and spreading to the rest of the globe, it is not something unjustly imposed on the American people. The consumerist culture of America has groomed the public to seek efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. These principles grow in importance and value in contemporary America. Even when given the choice to avoid a Mcdonaldized establishment or product, people will flock to it. I agree with Ritzer’s analysis of a Mcdonaldized society, but I feel that Ritzer has failed to provide any real solutions to the Mcdonaldization process. I will support Ritzer’s analysis of the Mcdonaldization process, but also show that it is inevitable and essential in the American society to have a rationalized system. Ritzer stresses that “Mcdonaldization” does not just refer to robotlike assemb...

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...ety, companies are looking to maximize profits and managers are looking to maximize sales. Employers want efficiency and predictability from their workers. They want to be able to control their employees. With so much of the day spent at work and commuting, the only way people can get everything done everyday is to rely on time saving methods. With increasing productivity and development comes an increasingly rationalized system. Regardless of who benefits or to what extent, the universal result is homogenization. Rationalized systems have a pronounced tendency to squash individual tastes, niche markets, small-scale enterprise and personalized customer service. Differences are leveled, wrinkles smoothed, knots cut off -- convenience at the expense of character. An overwhelming sameness develops, along with a decrease in responsiveness. The system that seeks to mimic a machine becomes a machine, incapable of making exceptions or taking risks. I believe that the greatest loss is that most people know of no other society than the rationalized society and therefore cannot even hope to deviate from it. For good or for bad, our social destiny is to live in such prepackaged settings.