The McDonaldization of Society; 20th Anniversary Edition

by George Ritzer

• ISBN13: 9781452226699
• ISBN10: 1452226695
• Edition: Anniv.
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-04-19
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

As one of the most eye-opening and popular sociology books of all time, The McDonaldization of Society demonstrates the power of the sociological imagination to todayÆs readers in a way that few other books have, linking theory to contemporary pop-culture examples that resonate with 21st-century students. This Sixth Edition includes a new concluding Chapter 10 ôThe DeMcDonaldization Society?ö that examines recent phenomena like Web 2.0 and its relationship to the McDonaldization thesis. á

Table of Contents

Preface	p. x
An Introduction to McDonaldization	p. 1
McDonald's as an American and a Global Icon	p. 6
The Long Arm of McDonaldization	p. 9
The Dimensions of McDonaldization	p. 13
Efficiency	p. 13
Calculability	p. 14
Predictability	p. 14
Control	p. 15
A Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality	p. 15
Illustrating the Dimensions of McDonaldization: The Case of IKEA	p. 17
The Advantages of McDonaldization	p. 19
What Isn't McDonaldized?	p. 20
Are In-N-Out Burger and Pret A Manger Antitheses of McDonaldization?	p. 20
In-N-Out Burger	p. 21
Pret A Manger	p. 25
A Look Ahead	p. 26
The Past, Present, and Future of McDonaldization: From the Iron Cage to the Fast-Food Factory and Beyond	p. 28
Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational	p. 29
Weber's Theory of Rationality	p. 29
Irrationality and the "Iron Cage"	p. 31
The Holocaust: Mass-Produced Death	p. 32
Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way	p. 34
The Assembly Line: Turning Workers Into Robots	p. 36
Levittown: Putting Up Houses-"Boom, Boom, Boom"	p. 37
Shopping Centers: Mailing America	p. 39
McDonald's: Creating the "Fast-Food Factory"	p. 40
McDonaldization and Contemporary Social Changes	p. 43
The Forces Driving McDonaldization: It Pays, We Value It, It Fits	p. 43
Higher Profits and Lower Costs	p. 44
McDonaldization for Its Own Sake	p. 44
McDonaldization and the Changing Society	p. 45
Other Major Social Changes: McDonaldization in the Era of the "Posts"	p. 46
Postindustrialism and McDonaldization: "Complexification" and "Simplification"	p. 47
Fordism and Post-Fordism: Or Is It McDonaldism?	p. 48
Postmodernity: A Threat to McDonaldization?	p. 49
The Future: Are There Any Limits to the Expansion of McDonaldization?	p. 50
Efficiency and Calculability	p. 54
Efficiency: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods	p. 54
Streamlining the Process	p. 55
The Fast-Food Industry: Speeding the Way From Secretion to Excretion	p. 56
Home Cooking (and Related Phenomena): "I Don't Have Time to Cook"	p. 58
Shopping: Creating Ever-More Efficient Selling Machines	p. 59
Higher Education: Just Fill in the Box	p. 61
Health Care: Docs-in-a-Box	p. 62
Entertainment: Moving People (and Trash) Efficiently	p. 64
Online and Smartphone Dating: Show Your Interest With Just a "Wink"	p. 66
Other Settings: Ten Steps to Spiritual Maturity	p. 66
Simplifying the Product	p. 57
Putting Customers to Work	p. 69
Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips	p. 72
Emphasizing Quantity Rather Than Quality of Products	p. 73
The Fast-Food Industry: Of "Big Bites" and "Super Big Gulps"	p. 73
Higher Education: Grades, Scores, Ratings, and Rankings	p. 76
Health Care: Patients as Dollar Signs	p. 79
Sports: Nadia Comaneci Scored Exactly 79.275 Points	p. 80
Politics: There Were No Sound Bites in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate	p. 83
Reducing Production and Service to Numbers	p. 84
The Fast-Food Industry: Hustle, and a Precooked Hamburger Measures Exactly 3.875 Inches	p. 84
The Workplace: A Penny the Size of a Cartwheel	p. 85
Predictability and Control	p. 87
Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside	p. 87
Creating Predictable Settings	p. 88
Motel Chains: "Magic Fingers" but No Norman Bates	p. 88
The Fast-Food Industry: Thank God for Those Golden Arches	p. 89
Other Settings: E.T. Can't Find His Home	p. 90
Scripting Interaction With Customers	p. 92
The Fast-Food Industry: "Howdy, Pardner" and "Happy Trails"	p. 92
Other Settings: Even the Jokes Are Scripted	p. 94
Making Employee Behavior Predictable	p. 94
The Fast-Food Industry: Even Hamburger University's Professors Behave Predictably	p. 95
Other Settings: That Disney Look	p. 96
Creating Predictable Products and Processes	p. 97
The Fast-Food Industry: Even the Pickles Are Standardized	p. 97
Entertainment: Welcome to McMovieworld	p. 98
Sports: There's Even a McStables	p. 100
Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness	p. 100
Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots	p. 102
Controlling Employees	p. 103
The Fast-Food Industry: From Human to Mechanical Robots	p. 104
Education: McChild Care Centers	p. 106
Health Care: Who's Deciding Our Fate?	p. 106
The Workplace: Do as I Say, Not as I Do	p. 108
Controlling Customers	p. 110
The Fast-Food Industry: Get the Hell Out of There	p. 110
Other Settings: It's Like Boot Camp	p. 112
Controlling the Process and the Product	p. 113
Food Production, Cooking, and Vending: It Cooks Itself	p. 113
The Ultimate Examples of Control: Birth and Death?	p. 116
Controlling Conception: Even Granny Can Conceive	p. 116
Controlling Pregnancy: Choosing the Ideal Baby	p. 117
Controlling Childbirth: Birth as Pathology	p. 119
Controlling the Process of Dying: Designer Deaths	p. 122
The Irrationality of Rationality: Traffic Jams on Those "Happy Trails"	p. 123
Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout	p. 123
High Cost: Better Off at Home	p. 126
False Friendliness: "Hi, George"	p. 126
Disenchantment: Where's the Magic?	p. 128
Health and Environmental Hazards: A Day's Calories in One Fast-Food Meal	p. 129
Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris	p. 133
Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at "Trough and Brew"	p. 134
Family: The Kitchen as Filling Station	p. 137
Higher Education: McLectures and McColleges	p. 139
Health Care: You're Just a Number	p. 139
Dehumanized Death	p. 141
Dealing With McDonaldization: A Practical Guide	p. 142
Creating "Reasonable" Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules	p. 144
Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza di Spagna	p. 145
McLibel Support Group: McDonald's Pyrrhic Victory	p. 146
Slow Food: Creating a Place for Traditional, Regional, and High-Quality Food	p. 148
Sprawl-Busters: A "Hit List" of McDonaldized Superstores	p. 150
Local Protests: Not Wanting to Say "Bye-Bye to the Neighborhood"	p. 151
Coping Individually: "Skunk Works," Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds	p. 153
Games, Knitting, and Nonrationalized Niches	p. 154
A Range of Individual Actions: If All Else Fails, Save the Children	p. 156
Freedom: If You Can't Cope, Can You Escape?	p. 159
Some Concluding Thoughts	p. 160
Globalization and the Possibility of the DeMcDonaldization of Society?	p. 162
Globalization and McDonaldization	p. 163
The Globalization of Nothing	p. 165
Nothing and Something	p. 165
Glocalization and Grobalization	p. 167
The Grobalization of Nothing	p. 169
The DeMcDonaldization of Society	p. 171
Starbuckization	p. 171
What Has Starbucks Added to, or Removed From, the McDonald's Model?	p. 172
Should the Concept of "Starbuckization" Replace "McDonaldization"?	p. 175
The Irrationality of Rationality at Starbucks	p. 176
The Internet and DeMcDonaldization	p. 178
eBayization	p. 178
eBayizing McDonaldization?	p. 179
Web 1.0 and 2.0*	p. 181
Notes	p. 186
Bibliography	p. 215
Index	p. 221
About the Author	p. 237
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