STAY IN THE HIMALAYAN MOUNTAINS
“If any of my competitors were drowning, I’d stick a hose in their mouth.” - Ray Kroc
McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization. McDonalds was founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard McDonald and Maurice McDonald. Set up as a drive-in restaurant in San Bernardino, California, called “McDonald’s Bar-B-Que,” it would come to revolutionise the way that food was consumed around the world giving birth to the term McDonaldization. The term McDonaldization is used by one of leading sociologists George Ritzer in the book The McDonaldization of Society. George Ritzer explains that McDonaldization becomes manifested when a culture adopts the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. McWorld now refers to multinational corporations or in Benjamin Barber's terms antinational corporations as they see everyone simply as consumers. The terms Uberisation and ebayization, are commonly used to refer to globalization. Most countries have adapted to the concept of McDonaldization because of Globalization. Max Weber used the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society and George Ritzer regarded the fast-food restaurant as having become a more representative contemporary paradigm. The terms McWorld and Mcjob are related to George Ritzer's analysis of corporate culture in The McDonaldization of Society. The concept of McDonaldization is gaining attention in different aspects like culture. McDonaldization thesis or McDonaldization theory in cultural version is an idea of the worldwide homogenization of cultures. We will soon have Starbuckization. Starbucks has opened over 4,700 coffee shops across the China since 1999. Slogans That Made McDonald’s
One of the most important things that McDonalds did at this restaurant was finetune their delivery structure. They came up with what they called the “Speedee Service System," an assembly line model for making hamburgers and to deliver them to customers in record time. Ray Kroc is the person most associated with McDonald's business success, although all the key elements of the business were created by the McDonald brothers before he arrived. He began as a business partner of the McDonald brothers in 1954. Kroc originally ran the franchising of the business and later purchased the entire business in 1961.
McDonaldization is the way in which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are dominating sectors of American society and the rest of the world. The principles and processes of McDonaldization spread to other parts of society. When McDonald’s enters a country, consumer culture is unified and cultural hybridization occurs. The process of McDonaldization of fast food creates increasing Mcjobs (Ritzer, 1998).
“McDonaldization” may be described as the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world. Thus the term McDonaldization, made popular by the eminent sociologist Professor George Ritzer, could just as easily be termed “Walmart-ization” or “Amazon.com-ization.”
In May 2017, Pat McDonagh called out McDonald’s trademark bullying in a complaint to the EUIPO. On the subject, McDonagh has stated, “McDonald’s has literally registered the McWorld. It is trying to make sure that every word in the English language belongs to them if there is prefix Mc or Mac put in front of it. They have trademarked words like McKids, McFamily, McCountry, McWorld, McJob and McInternet in order to, over time, squeeze out smaller family-based businesses.”
Richard ("Dick") and brother Maurice ("Mac")
McDonald, launched McDonald's with the ‘Speedee Service System’, in the late
1940s in San Bernardino, California.
Calculability is objective to be quantifiable rather than subjective.
McDonaldization developed the notion that quantity equals quality.
McDonaldization also means predictability, no matter where, people will receive the same service and the same product every time.
Fast-food restaurants like McDonald are designed to maximise profit, and have strived toward efficiency since their conception. McDonaldization in our society has become a norm, we must be careful not to surrender to the concept before all aspects of our lives are McDonaldized and we lose the benefits that can appear from McDonaldization.
George Ritzer contends that in McDonaldization, Modern and Postmodern co-exist. The modern Fordist assembly line, the Post-Fordist global supply and distribution chain, and the Postmodern Culture co-exist in McDonaldization.
Neeti Kasliwal, Associate Profesor, Banasthali
Vidyapith, Jaipur Campus.
McDonald's worldwide is well known for a high degree
of respect for the local culture. Localization of ingredients and communication,
yet cultivating an international image are some of the reasons of success of
this fast food chain in India.
“Steve Jobs of Fast Food” Sends McDonald’s Stock
Soaring
When investors think of innovative CEOs, they probably mention tech
titans like Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Jeff Bezos. Maybe they need to think of
burgers and fries.
Last month, McDonald’s Corp (NYSE: MCD) posted
jaw-dropping second-quarter results. System-wide sales jumped eight percent
year-over-year, blowing analysts’ expectations out of the water. The report sent
McDonald’s stock to a record high, adding to the company’s 110% price rally over
the past four years. (Source: “McDonald’s Reports Second Quarter 2019 Results,”
Cision July 26, 2019.)
The main theme in Weber's analysis of modern society was the process of rationalization. A process in which traditional modes of thinking were replaced by an analysis concerned with formalized social control. Weber argued that the manifestation of this process was the bureaucracy, a formal organization characterized by a hierarchical authority structure, and division of labor. The structure they impose on human interaction and thinking furthers the process that leads to an increasingly rationalized world affecting all aspects of everyday life.
Efficiency means minimization of time. Richard and Maurice McDonald were American siblings that founded the original McDonald’s restaurant in San Bernardino, California.
Even Jeff Bezos had a Mcjob. While Jeff Bezos was in high school, he worked at McDonald's as a short-order line cook during the breakfast shift.
McJobs and Pieces of Flair: Linking
McDonaldization to Alienating Work
Linda Ann Treiber, Kennesaw State
University, ltreiber@kennesaw.edu
Abstract: This article offers strategies
for teaching about rationality, bureaucracy, and social change using George
Ritzer’s The McDonaldization of Society and its ideas about efficiency,
predictability, calculability, and control. Student learning is facilitated
using a series of strategies: making the familiar strange, explaining
McDonaldization, self-investigation and discovery, and exploring and
implementing alternatives. Through assignments, class exercises, and films,
students contextualize modernity and its unintended negative consequences by
viewing McDonaldization though the lenses of work and jobs. These strategies
provide a framework to help students understand key concepts, critique
McDonaldization, and formulate positive ways to cope with Weber’s
iron cage.
"McJustice": On the McDonaldization of Criminal
Justice - Robert M. Bohm, Justice Quarterly Volume: 23, Issue: 1 March
2006. Routledge.
This essay examines the "McDonaldization" ("McJustice") of
criminal justice, which is a term used by sociologist George Ritzer (2004) to
refer to the bureaucratic process by which principles of the fast-food industry
are applied to other sectors of society.
Abstract: The particular
characteristics of "McJustice" examined in this essay are efficiency,
calculability, predictability, control, and irrationality.
Regarding
efficiency, the practice discussed is the administration of justice by plea
bargaining, which aims to reduce the time and cost of case processing.
The
"McJustice" feature of calculability refers to the quantitative aspects of case
processing, which pertains to the ability to produce large amounts of products
rapidly, thus reducing costs and the amount of time it takes to process a case.
The discussion of predictability focuses on the reduction of sentencing and
parole discretion so there will be more uniformity in sentencing and parole
decisions.
Control in "McDonaldized" institutions involves the ability to
get employees and customers to follow the rules and regulations that govern the
process. This means training employees to do a few things in a prescribed manner
as managers and inspectors provide close supervision. This requires a host of
rules and regulations and a fixed structure for job tasks. Technology
facilitates this control.
"McDonaldized" institutions are rational systems,
and rational systems inevitably produce irrationalities "that limit, eventually
compromise, and perhaps even undermine their rationality."
The issue is
whether a system that involves individual human beings, criminal justice
professionals, offenders, and victims, with varying needs, circumstances,
attitudes, values, and cultural conditioning can be subjected to "McJustice"
without compromising the principles of justice.
McDonaldization, Society, and Education.
Hedieh Najafi, Al-Khawarizmi International College
Al Ain, United Arab
Emirates. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 5, No.
9(1); September 2015.
Abstract: Applying all that McDonald’s is employing in
the food industry to other aspects of life is called McDonaldization. In today’s
world the effects of McDonaldization can be seen in all aspects of life not just
in the food industry but also in culture, globalization, education, and higher
education. This paper intends to shed some light on the concept of
McDonaldization and its prevalence in different facades of life. Examples of
McDonaldization in culture, globalization, and education are presented. Also,
the paper shows that e-learning is the ultimate realization of McDonaldization
of education
Look for the Golden Arches!
(1960-1967)
The
closest thing to home
(1966-1969)
I'm lovin' it
(2003-present)
Let's eat out!
(1960-1965)
You Deserve A Break Today
(1971-1975
and 1989-1991, concurrent with 1988 slogan)
It's Mac Tonight
(1985,
Mac Tonight advertising)
Do you believe in magic?
(March 17, 1992 -
October 15, 1997, Ronald McDonald and Happy Meal McDonald's ads)
It's a
good time for the great taste of McDonald's
(April 16, 1984 - April 10, 1988,
this slogan was used on newspapers from April 16, 1984 until March 6, 1990 and
in November 1993)
What you want is what you get, delivered from
McDonald's today
(1994, McDelivery trial)
You want it, need it, you
gotta have a taste of McDonald's burgers
(December 1, 2010-present, Big Mac,
Quarter Pounder, Angus Burger advertising)
Have you had your break today?
(1995-1997)
Ronald Makes it Magic
(February 17, 1995 - October 15,
1997, Ronald McDonald and Happy Meal McDonald's ads)
Did somebody say
McDonald's?
(1997-2000)
Put a Smile On
(2000-2003)
The good
time, great taste of McDonald's
(1988-1990)
30 years of good times and
great taste
(1985, 30th anniversary)
McDonald's is your kind of place
(1967-January 22, 1971)
The simple joy of McDonald's
(2010-2013)
Nobody can do it like McDonald's can
(1979-1981)
McDonald's is
your place to be
(1986, also used by NBC between 1990 and 1992 as NBC is the
place to be)
We love to see you smile
(2000-2003)
That's My
McDonald's
(1981, concurrent with 1980 slogans)
McDonald's Today
(1991-1992)
McDonald's Sure is Good to Have Around
(1974, concurrent
with 1971 slogan)
There's something for everyone to love at McDonald's
(2013-present)
Gimme Back that Filet-O-Fish
(2009-present,
Filet-O-Fish advertising)
Nobody can say good night like McDonald's can
(1979)
We cook it all for you at McDonald's
(1982, concurrent with
1980 slogans)
Go for the Goodness at McDonald's
(1962-1969)
Nobody makes your day like McDonald's can
(1980-August 21, 1981)
McDonald's and you
(1983-1984)
What you want is what you get
(1992-1997)
What you want is what you get at RocDonald's today
(1994,
The Flintstones promotion)
It's what I eat and what I do
(2005,
combined with 2003 slogan to make It's what I eat and what I do...I'm lovin' it)
One Two Three Four... Big Mac burger!
(1997)
McDonald's, where
what you want is what you get
(1994, Sonic the Hedgehog promotion).