Product Description

One of the most noteworthy and popular sociology books of all time, The McDonaldization of Society demonstrates the power of the sociological imagination to today'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 value 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.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #240887 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 296 pages

Review

"One of the most important and influential works of the last half of this century. . . . Ritzer was both an analyst and a prophet in this classic work, which is as relevant today as it was a decade ago."  

(Jonathan H. Turner )

"Every time I have used McDonaldization, class meetings have been characterized by active discussions in which virtually all students participate." 

(Simon Cordery )

"Most undergraduate students today have never lived in an un-McDonald world, and because this book speaks to them, it sparks lively class discussion. This new edition is finely updated, and even more interesting, as it demonstrates the globalization of McDonaldization and the various different cultures individually adapt to it." 

(Nathan W. Pino )

"Ritzer’s texts is in a class by itself. I can’t think of another as insightful and enjoyable." 

(James D. Cover )

About the Author
George Ritzer is a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. He received the 2000 Distinguished Contribution to Teaching Award from the American Sociological Association and has chaired its sections on Theoretical Sociology and Organizations and Occupations. Among his most recent books are The McDonaldization of Society, New Century Edition, Enchanting a Disenchanted World , and, with Barry Smart, The Handbook of Social Theory.  

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Customer Reviews

The McDonaldization of Society
If we are to agree with Ritzer, McDonalds has completely transformed our lives. To some extent he is right, and this is what is really scary. Ritzer argues how many businesses have emulated the McDonalds model of efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. In essence, McDonaldized businesses offer products and services in an as efficient way as they can by offering a limited choice to their consumers. Standardization and homogeneity is to be vital to McDonaldization but has helped businesses globalise their operations.

Ritzer also goes one step further and shows us how McDonaldization has infiltrated into society as people desire to attain instantaneous gratification- and even how to some extent how our healthcare and education systems now seem to work on McDonald's ethos!

The grobalization of nothing
McDonalds is G. Ritzer's perfect paradigm for explaining the actual structure of our planet. He has built his portrait on Max Weber's rationalization concept. This concept expresses man's search for the optimum means to a given end by rules, regulations and larger social structures. Its driving force is economics (capitalism).
This concept affects virtually all aspects of our society all over the world: work, education, health care, leisure, transport, sports, politics, justice, religion and the family. It shows a planet centered on rational consumerism.
The ingredients of the system are efficiency, calculability, predictability and nonhuman technologies for controlling people. It was greatly helped by technological breakthroughs like automobiles, TV, the computer, internet and lasers (DVD) and by fundamental changes in Western societies (single parent families, working women, higher mobility, increasing disposable income, time savings, mediatization and advertising).

But Max Weber foresaw also the lurking irrationalities, the dehumanization and homogenization, which expressed themselves in environmental and health problems (air pollution), McJobs (disenchantment, false friendliness), traffic jams, bureaucratization.
McDonaldization produces the perfect way of life for people who, as Nietzsche said, use the wrong conjugation: they don't live, they are lived.

For G. Ritzer, McDonaldization is the `grobalization of nothing': a world dominated by the imperialistic ambitions of nations, corporations and organizations, whose main intent is growth of their power, influence and profits. `Nothing' is a social form that is generally centrally conceived, controlled and comparatively devoid of distinctive substantive content.

The author would like to see a more deMcDonaldizated world (see the many recommendations at the end of the book), but McDonaldization is still on the march, certainly in developing countries.

This book is a crucial, superbly documented, text for all those who want to understand the world we live in.
A must read.

The Title Says It All
Despite its snappy title, there is only so much more which can be said on this pop-sociology theme. The book is chock full of analogies between modern society and, you guessed it, big bad Mickey D's. To be fair, George Ritzer presents his material in a balance and reasonable manner, but one does sense that old Ronald MacDonald is being made a scapegoat for all the ills of America's convenience society. Although the rational corporate model (aka MacDonalisation) is creeping around the world, it really only is in the ultra-consumerist American sphere that the effects are pronounced. For example, it would be interesting to examine WHY the rationalized model has been adopted so wilfully. On the whole, an interesting, readable book, but a not saying anything which you probably hadn't already though of.