The Concept of McDonaldization - Book Report/Review Example

?The McDonaldization Thesis - review Rationalization is the process in which social actions are performed because of the considerations of efficiencyand calculations rather than morality, emotions, customs or traditions that motivates the action. The theory of rationalization was developed by Max Weber. It is the substitution of the traditional rules by logical rules that are consistent. It is the behaviour of the capitalist market of the western world and is regarded as the central aspect of modernity. Rationalization may adversely affect the society, it moves modernity away from the enlightenment of the society, and progress is falsely assumed. The Weber’s theory is the inspiration of the George Ritzer’s thesis “THE McDONALDIZATION THESIS: IS EXPANSION INEVITABLE?” There has been a dramatic progress of the theory of rationalization through the years and since the world is in no mood of any significant changes in the path, no counter movement is expected to upset the path towards the achievement of rationalization. The basic premises of the theory of rationalization have been accepted by the McDonaldization thesis. However, according to McDonaldization, bureaucracy is no longer the paradigm of the progress but it is at present the fast food chain that combine bureaucracy with the other premises of the theory of rationalization. With the establishment of the first food outlet of McDonalds in 1955 it, bring about a revolutionary change in the history of the process of rationalization. McDonald’s is playing the key role in the expansion of the theory of rationalization and being a central participant in the manifestation of the process in the contemporary years has been the foundation to the name McDonaldization that is expanding over spaces and time. The principles of the fast food industries are increasingly dominating further sectors of not only the American society but also the rest of the world. This sociological phenomenon of the expansion has been defined by Ritzer as ‘McDonaldization’. Every task can be rationalized and broken down into the smallest possible section to do it most efficiently. This is the fundamental aspect of the theory of McDonaldization. This resulted in a logical sequence of methods that can be completed every time to get the same desired and most efficient results. The measure of the performance is through the quantity of the output produced. There are five basic dimensions that describe the thesis of McDonaldization. They are Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, and Control through substitution of labor by technology, and the paradox of irrationality of the behaviour of rationality. (Ritzer, 292-293) The first dimension ‘efficiency’ emphasizes on the discovery of the best possible means of achieving the desired outcome. It is the determination of the mode of production that is rationale and the best. For completing a particular task, efficiency is the optimum method. Not only the production technique should be efficient but the consumers’ wants are also expected to be satisfied such that they consume efficiently. The structure of the fast food restaurant, the rules, and the regulations and the variety of norms ensures that both the employees and the consumers behave efficiently. Moreover, according to the dimension of the thesis, efficiency on the part of one functioning group ensures the efficiency of the other. However, in the process of McDonaldization individuals cannot themselves choose the most efficient method of production but need to accept the efficiency criteria of the surroundings. So in many cases efficiency of the surrounding institutions does not actually prove to be efficient for the employees or the customers. The second dimension is ‘calculability’ that emphasizes on the quantity rather than quality. It emphasizes on the quantitative aspect of the product that is sold and the service that is provided. The speed of the work of the employees in the fast food restaurants often has adverse effect on the quality of the work of the employee. Poor quality of work creates dissatisfaction among employees but result in huge turnover rates. This emphasis on the speed also has adverse effect on the experience of the consumers as the priority is given to the quantity of the product rather than on its quality. The rationality of the hypothesis is that more is better and this works behind the second dimension of McDonaldization. The third dimension is predictability. The employees are expected to work in the same predicted manner and the same predictable behaviour is expected on the part of the consumers. The food availability in the outlets is also predictable, varies very little with time, and places. In McDonaldized society where emphasis is given to discipline, order, consistency, systemization, people always prefer to live in a predicted manner. The experience of the consumers and the work routine of the employers thus remain same throughout in every outlet. The fourth dimension is the Control. Technologies affect a good deal of control over the McDonaldized society and over its employees. The technologies that are currently dominating will replace human labor one day. The customers on the other hand are controlled both by the employees and by technologies. With the increasing mechanization, the employers exert better control over the entire process of rationalization. They control through substituting labors by more machines, so as to make the production process more repetitive. The fifth and the last dimension is the irrationality of the rational thinking. In leading to a more rationalized world, the society is making the consumers and the employees suffer from irrationalities of rationality. Irrationalities involve opposite functioning of the principles of the McDonaldization. Efficient functioning often turns out to be inefficient. The ultimate of all irrationality is the dehumanization jobs of the employees and for the consumers it is the dehumanizing environment in which they are forced to eat. McDonalds have expanded significantly within the American society and also abroad. It started as a ‘medium sized town phenomenon’ but now it has spread over different big cities and small cities of the world. It is also planning to open outlets in places like museums, corporate cafeterias and also in office buildings. The most significant move made is the spread of the fast food chain within college campuses with the first one opening at the campus of the University of Cincinniti in the year 1973. They are easily available at the convenient rest shops along the highways and also in service stations. The fast food outlet are found in railway stations, airports hotels and are been increasingly served as flight meals in different international flights. The military units are also served fast food menus recently. Moreover, McDonaldization ahs spread in different aspects of life like the banking system with the use of ATM, and also in the personal and professional life of individuals. The day-to-day aspects of living namely food, drinking, shelter, and clothing have been McDonaldized (Ritzer). Innovative technologies are being used so as to predict the gender of the baby birth and to produce what may be called ‘designer pregnancies’. The hospital operations’ procedures have also been McDonaldized. In this respect the documentary “Business of Being Born” might be discussed. It tries to destroy the popularity of the role of hospitals in delivering babies. The concept of midwives and natural births has been brought back. The hospitals are projected as businesses which make profits out of the drugs to induce and speed the labor process and measures taken to fill and vacate the beds as rapidly as possible owing in order to accommodate more patients. The film ‘Babies’ shows the lifestyles of four babies form different cultural backdrops. One of them lives in an apartment filled with expensive toys and taken to baby yoga while one lives amongst the cattle and leads a life, which is close to nature. The film reflects the different approaches of commercialization that a baby undergoes right from the childhood. According to Mark Alfino McDonaldization is a process that has different response among different social individuals belonging to the different cultures of the society and different regions. Thus the prediction of Ritzer that the spread of McDonaldization is a temporary phenomenon may proved to be true if there arises resistance from the cultural fronts of different classes of the society and also from different sections of the society as the productivity of the working class is getting more and more reduced due to the spread of the phenomenon. (Alfino, 188) Spread of McDonaldization has risk associated with it. The first risks that exist are due to the deregulation of the macro economic variables and the second is the negative impact on the cultural consequences. Hence, the spread could be limited at some point of time. (Smart, 92) The dimensions or the ingredients of McDonaldization have spread to other dimensions of the society namely the phenomenon of corporatizing the schooling system of the society. In the increased world of competition among the private schools to attract more and more students, they are trying to increase, the marketing strategies of their employees along with investing huge capital to in developing the interiors to attract more students. They are focusing on the quantity of their students and not on the quality of the education that they are providing. More than education they are focusing on the extra facilities they provide to attract students. Education system is being more predicted now a day as the right lies in the hands of the corporate houses. They are controlling the education system of the country where money can buy every educational qualification that the students required. Fast food outlets have become a center for dating activities and youngsters gathering there to spend their weekends. McDonaldization is leading to deskilling of employees, reducing their productivity as the work is being repetitive and nothing remains unpredictable to be learnt through experience. Decrease in the productivity leaves the workers with least bargaining power regarding their wages and thus they are being easily replaced. Thus due to all these ill effects of the process of McDonaldization, it will be resisted at times and the spread is just a temporary phenomenon. References Alfino, Mark, Caputo, John S, & Robin Wynyard, McDonaldization revisited, ABC-CLIO, 1998 Balmes, Thomas, Babies [Documentary], Studio Canal, 2010 Epstein, Appy, The Business of Being Born [documentary], Barranca Productions, 2010 Smart, Barry, Resisting McDonaldization, SAGE, 1999. Ritzer, George, The McDonaldization Thesis: Is expansion inevitable?, International Sociology, (1996) 11, 291, March 10, 2011 from: http://www.pineforge.com/mcdonaldizationstudy5/articles/OTHER%20WORKS%20BY%20GEORGE%20RITZER_Articles%20PDFS/The%20McDonaldization%20Thesis.pdf Read More