Psyc

Psyc

McDonaldization

McDonaldization is a term used by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society (1995). The process of McDonaldization can be summarized as the way in which "the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world.” (Ritzer, 1993:1).

Ritzer outlines four dominant themes within this McDonaldization process: Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Increased Control/ the Replacement of Human by Non-human Technology

Efficiency: the optimal method for accomplishing a task. Efficiency in McDonaldization means that every aspect of the organization is geared toward the minimization of time.

Calculability: objective should be quantifiable (i.e., sales) rather than subjective (i.e., taste). McDonaldization developed the notion that quantity equals quality, and that a large amount of product delivered to the customer in a short amount of time is the same as a high quality product. This allows people to quantify how much they're getting versus how much they’re paying. Organizations want consumers to believe that they are getting a large amount of product for a cheap price. Workers in these organizations are judged by how fast they are instead of the quality of work they do.

Predictability: standardized and uniform services. "Predictability" means that no matter where a person goes, they will receive the same service and receive the same product every time when interacting with the McDonaldized organization. This also applies to the workers in those organizations. Their task are highly repetitive, highly routine, and predictable.

Control/Replacement of Human by Non-human Technology:
These two elements are closely linked. Specifically, replacement of human by nonhuman technology is often oriented towards greater control. The great source of uncertainty and unpredictability in a rationalizing system are people -either the people...

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