The McDonaldization of Society

by Ritzer, George

• ISBN13: 9780761986270
• ISBN10: 0761986278
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-02-01
• Publisher: Pine Forge Pr

Summary

"Ritzer's text is in a class by itself. I can't think of another as insightful and enjoyable." -- James D. Cover, Furman University One of the most noteworthy and popular Sociology books of all time, The McDonaldization of Society demonstrates the power of the sociological imagination to todaya??s readers in a way that few books have been able to do. It is ideal for use in a wide range of undergraduate courses and will be of equal interest to anyone interested in social criticism. This book links a large number of social phenomena to McDonaldization, some which are directly affected by the principles of the fast-food restaurant and others where the effect is more indirect.

Table of Contents

Preface	xiii
An Introduction to McDonaldization	1	(20)
McDonald's as a Global Icon	5	(3)
The Long Arm of McDonaldization	8	(3)
The Dimensions of McDonaldization	11	(4)
Efficiency	12	(1)
Calculability	12	(1)
Predictability	13	(1)
Control through Nonhuman Technology	14	(1)
The Advantages of McDonaldization	15	(1)
A Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality	16	(2)
What Isn't McDonaldized?	18	(1)
A Look Ahead	19	(2)
McDonaldization and Its Precursors: From the Iron Cage to the Fast-Food Factory	21	(19)
Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational	22	(4)
Weber's Theory of Rationality	22	(2)
Irrationality and the ``Iron Cage''	24	(2)
The Holocaust: Mass Producing Death	26	(2)
Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way	28	(2)
The Assembly Line: Turning Workers into Robots	30	(2)
Levittown: Putting Up Houses---``Boom, Boom, Boom''	32	(2)
Shopping Centers: Malling America	34	(1)
McDonald's: Creating the ``Fast-Food Factory''	35	(4)
Conclusion	39	(1)
Efficiency: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods	40	(22)
Streamlining the Process	41	(14)
The Fast-Food Industry: Speeding the Way from Secretion to Excretion	43	(1)
Home Cooking (and Related Phenomena): ``I Don't Have Time to Cook''	44	(3)
Shopping: Creating Ever-More Efficient Selling Machines	47	(2)
Higher Education: Just Fill in the Box	49	(2)
Health Care: Docs-in-a-Box	51	(1)
Entertainment: Moving People (and Trash) Efficiently	52	(2)
Other Settings: Streamlining Relationships with Even the Pope	54	(1)
Simplifying the Product	55	(2)
Putting Customers to Work	57	(4)
Conclusion	61	(1)
Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips	62	(21)
Emphasizing Quantity Rather than Quality of Products	64	(13)
The Fast-Food Industry: Of ``Whalers'' and ``Big Fishes''	64	(2)
Higher Education: Grades, Scores, Ratings, and Rankings	66	(4)
Health Care: Patients as Dollar Signs	70	(1)
Television: Aesthetics Are Always Secondary	71	(1)
Sports: Nadia Comaneci Scored Exactly 79.275 Points	72	(3)
Politics: There Were No Sound Bites in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate	75	(1)
Other Settings: Junk Food Journalism and Tourist Junk (ets)	76	(1)
Giving the Illusion of Quantity	77	(1)
Reducing Production and Service to Numbers	78	(4)
The Fast-Food Industry: A Precooked Hamburger Measures Exactly 3.875 Inches	78	(2)
Cooking: ``Bake at 350 Degrees for 40 Minutes''	80	(1)
The Workplace: A Penny the Size of a Cartwheel	80	(2)
Conclusion	82	(1)
Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside	83	(21)
Creating Predictable Settings	84	(4)
Motel Chains: ``Magic Fingers'' but No Norman Bates	84	(1)
The Fast-Food Industry: Thank God for Those Golden Arches	85	(1)
Other Settings: E. T. Can't Find His Home	86	(2)
Scripting Interaction with Customers	88	(3)
The Fast-Food Industry: ``Howdy Pardner'' and ``Happy Trails''	88	(2)
Other Settings: Even the Jokes Are Scripted	90	(1)
Making Employee Behavior Predicatable	91	(3)
The Fast-Food Industry: Even Hamburger University's Professors Behave Predictably	92	(1)
Other Settings: That Disney Look	93	(1)
Creating Predictable Products and Processes	94	(6)
The Fast-Food Industry: Even the Pickles Are Standardized	94	(2)
The University: Cookie-Cutter Textbooks	96	(1)
Entertainment: Welcome to McMovieworld	96	(3)
Sports: There's Even a McStables	99	(1)
Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness	100	(2)
Conclusion	102	(2)
Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots	104	(19)
Controlling Employees	105	(8)
The Fast-Food Industry: From Human to Mechanical Robots	105	(3)
Education: McChild Care Centers	108	(1)
Health Care: Who's Deciding Our Fate?	108	(1)
The Workplace: Do as I Say, Not as I Do	109	(4)
Controlling Customers	113	(4)
The Fast-Food Industry: Get the Hell Out of There	113	(1)
Other Settings: It's Like Boot Camp	114	(3)
Controlling the Process and the Product	117	(4)
Food Production, Cooking, and Vending: It Cooks Itself	117	(3)
Talking: What Can't Be Controlled?	120	(1)
Conclusion	121	(2)
The Irrationality of Rationality: Traffic Jams on Those ``Happy Trails''	123	(23)
Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout	124	(1)
High Cost: Better Off at Home	125	(1)
The Illusion of Fun: Ha, Ha, the Stock Market Just Crashed	126	(3)
The Illusion of Reality: Even the ``Singers'' Aren't Real	129	(1)
False Friendliness: ``Hi, George''	130	(2)
Disenchantment: Where's the Magic?	132	(1)
Health and Environmental Hazards: Even Your Pets Are at Risk	133	(2)
Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris	135	(1)
Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at ``Trough and Brew''	136	(9)
Fast-Food Industry: Gone Is the ``Greasy Spoon''	139	(2)
Family: The Kitchen as Filling Station	141	(2)
Higher Education: Like Processing Meat	143	(1)
Health Care: You're Just a Number	143	(2)
Conclusion	145	(1)
Frontiers of McDonaldization: Birth, Death, and Death-Defying Acts	146	(21)
Birth and Before: High-Tech Pregnancies and Designer Babies	149	(8)
McDonaldizing Conception: Even Granny Can Conceive	149	(2)
McDonaldizing Pregnancy: Choosing the Ideal Baby	151	(2)
McDonaldizing Childbirth: Birth as Pathology	153	(4)
Death---Before, During, and Beyond: Conveyor-Belt Funerals	157	(6)
McDonaldizing the Process of Dying: Designer Deaths	157	(3)
McDonaldizing Funerals: No More ``Boo Hoos''	160	(3)
Death-Defying Acts: A ``Yellow Brick Road'' to the Summit of Everest?	163	(2)
Conclusion	165	(2)
McDonaldization in a Changing World: Are There No Limits?	167	(33)
The Forces Driving McDonaldization: It Pays, We Value It, It Fits	168	(4)
Higher Profits and Lower Costs	168	(1)
McDonaldization for Its Own Sake	169	(1)
McDonaldization and the Changing Society	170	(2)
Globalization and McDonaldization: ``Get Out'' or ``Hang Out''	172	(7)
McDonald's as a Local Phenomenon	172	(2)
McDonald's as an Agent of Cultural Imperialism	174	(2)
Globalization versus Americanization	176	(3)
Some Alternative Perspectives: Fast Food in the Era of the ``Posts''	179	(12)
Postindustrialism and McDonaldization: ``Complexification'' and Simplification	179	(2)
Fordism and Post-Fordism: Or Is It McDonaldism?	181	(3)
Postmodernism: Are We Adrift in Hyperspace?	184	(7)
Looking to the Future: De-McDonaldization?	191	(8)
The Future of McDonald's and Franchises: Piles of Rotten Vegetables and Manure	191	(3)
The Future of McDonaldization: ``Miss Hap's'' and ``Miss Steak's''	194	(5)
Conclusion	199	(1)
Dealing with McDonaldization: A Practical Guide	200	(33)
Creating ``Reasonable'' Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules	202	(12)
Marvelous Market: ``Crunchy Crusts and Full Taste''	203	(4)
Ben & Jerry's: ``Caring Capitalism''	207	(4)
B & Bs: Alternatives to ``McBed, McBreakfasts''	211	(1)
Swedish Auto Assembly Lines: Eliminating the Worst Excesses	212	(2)
Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza di Spagna	214	(8)
McLibel Support Group: McDonald's Pyrrhic Victory	214	(2)
National Heart Savers Association: McClog the Artery	216	(1)
Slow Food: Creating a Place for Traditional, Regional, High-Quality Food	217	(1)
Sprawl-Busters: A ``Hit List'' of McDonaldized Superstores	218	(1)
Local Protests: Not Wanting to Say ``Bye-Bye to the Neighborhood''	219	(3)
Coping Individually: ``Skunk Works,'' Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds	222	(9)
Nonrationalized Niches: Life in the Skunk Works	223	(3)
A Range of Individual Actions: If all Else Fails, Save the Children	226	(4)
Freedom: If You Can't Cope, Can You Escape?	230	(1)
Conclusion	231	(2)
Notes	233	(30)
Bibliography	263	(4)
Index	267