What is McDonalization?

Sociologist George Ritzer defines it as “the process by which the principles of the fast- food restaurants are dominating more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. This process extends its practices into businesses and lifestyles of all types. As people adjust to the McDonalization of business it crosses over into their everyday lives.”

“In the process of McDonalization, a task is taken and broken down into smaller tasks. This is repeated until all tasks have been broken down to the smallest possible level. The resulting tasks are then reorganized to find the single most efficient method for completing each task. All the other methods are seen as inefficient and are discarded. The result of McDonalization is an efficient, logical sequence of methods that can be completed the same way every time to produce the desired outcome. The outcome is predictable, all aspects of the process are easily controlled and additionally, quantity becomes the measurement of good performance.”

Being more efficient, controlled and consistent, having measurable outcomes, it all sounds so good but there is a problem here. Over- rationalizing a process like this has an unexpected side effect called “irrationality” (when a rationalized system results in events or outcomes that were neither anticipated or desired, and in fact, may not be so good).

 

The 4 primary components of McDonalization are:

- Efficiency: The fastest method to get from A to B. Efficiency in McDonalds means the minimization in time. In the McDonalization process, you are forced to accept the efficiency of the surrounding institutions instead of choosing your own methods of efficiency. This may lead to a lamb- like acceptance of what the surrounding institutions consider efficient which may be different from what could actually be efficient for either the employees or the consumer.

Eg. Salad bars, ATM machines

Problem: Do you want to be trained to be a better worker for the McDonalized society? You are being forced to deal with computers or salad bars.

- Calculability: The objective should be quantifiable rather than taste. Quantity= quality. A large amount of product delivered to the costumer in a short amount of time represents a high quality product. Is an emphasis on the quantitative aspect of products sold (portion size, cost) and service offered (the time it takes to get the product). This makes people think how much they are getting versus how much they are paying. Companies want costumers to think that they are getting a large amount of product for not a lot of money. Workers in these companies are judged by how fast they work instead of the quality of work they do.

Problem: The more the better? Think about it…

- Predictability: No matter where the customers go, they will receive the same service and product every time they interact with a McDonalized company. Emphasized such things as discipline, order, systemization, formalization, routine, consistency, and methodical operation. In such a society, people prefer to know what to expect in most settings and at most times. This applies to the workers in those companies too. Their tasks are highly repetitive, highly routine and predictable.

- Control: Replacement of human by non- human technologies.

* The McDonalization strategy which seems to be rational, can lead to outcomes that are harmful and irrational. If we let convenience and efficiency flourish or spread, the world will become a homogenized world.