The McDonaldization of Higher Education

by Hayes, Dennis

• ISBN13: 9780897898560
• ISBN10: 0897898567
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-30
• Publisher: Praeger Pub Text

Summary

The term "McDonaldization" was coined by George Ritzer in 1993 and is a valuable tool for providing a theoretical and practical debate concerning novel and defining features of our contemporary world. The contributors to this collection, academics and writers from three countries, examine the McDonaldization of higher education in contemporary society. The growing literature on McDonaldization shows the power of the term to describe the extension of industrial rationalization (commodification) to wider society. In the context of higher education, one can see the application of Ritzer's four features of McDonaldization, efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. For example: higher education is becoming more efficient because it is processing more students by introducing multiple choice exams (US) or by removing exams altogether (UK) and replacing them with forms of continuous assessment, which leads to grade inflation and more students passing. The contributors to this volume, 15 academics and writers from three continents, examine what can be called the "McDonaldization of higher education" and the impact this has on the idea of the university as a liberal institution primarily engaged in the pursuit of knowledge.

Author Biography

DENNIS HAYES is Head of the Department of Post-compulsory Education at Canterbury Christ Church University College, Kent, England.ROBIN WYNYARD is Visiting Lecturer at Canterbury Christ Church University College, Kent, England.

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Abbreviations and Acronyms	ix
Introduction	1	(18)
Dennis Hayes
Robin Wynyard
Enchanting McUniversity: Toward a Spectacularly Irrational University Quotidian	19	(14)
George Ritzer
The Bureaucratization of the British University	33	(10)
Frank Furedi
Accounting for Anxiety: Economic and Cultural Imperatives Transforming University Life	43	(14)
Barry Smart
Modules and Markets: Education and Work in the ``Information Age''	57	(14)
Gavin Poynter
Digital Technologies and Competing Models of Higher Education	71	(13)
Caroline Hodges Persell
The Online Campus	84	(19)
James Woudhuysen
From Power Plays to Market Moves: The Standard in Higher Education	103	(11)
Alan Hudson
Total Quality Control: Universities Language, and Politics	114	(15)
Martin Parker
The Massification of Higher Education	129	(14)
Claire Fox
Taking the Hemlock? The New Sophistry of Teacher Training for Higher Education	143	(16)
Dennis Hayes
Did I Sign Up for This? Comments on the New Higher Education	159	(8)
Mary Evans
Feminist Education: Rebellion within McUniversity	167	(13)
Jane A. Rinehart
Novelty and Crisis in the World of McKnowledge	180	(10)
Joanne Finkelstein
Does Rationality Gum Up the Educational System?	190	(10)
Ngure wa Mwachofi
Hamburgerology by Degrees	200	(11)
Robin Wynyard
Index	211	(8)
About the Editors and Contributors	219