Unit 11 - McDonaldization

Question 1

sociology of consumption

Answer 1

Ritzer
- one of the main organizing principles for modern society (maybe THE)
- consumption has become a leading mechanism through which modern and postmodern people find meaning and relationship
- subdiscipline of sociology devoted to consumption starting from people like Marx/Frankfurt Schools (consumption as oppression/manipulation)

Question 2

McDonaldization

Answer 2

Ritzer
- the process by which the principle of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world
- distinguishing characteristics - efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control
- McDonalds and McDonaldization have had their most obvious influence on the restaurant industry and, more generally, on franchises of all types

Question 3

the “irrationality of rationality”

Answer 3

Ritzer
- they standardize, massify, and ultimately dehumanize
- rational systems inevitably spawn irrationalities
- The irrationality of rationality can be thought of as the fifth dimension of McDonaldization
- We must look at McDonaldization as both “enabling” and “constraining” - McDonaldized systems enable us to do many things we were not able to do in the past; however, these systems also keep us from doing things we otherwise would do - McDonaldization is a “double-edged” phenomenon
- The increase in the number of people crowding the planet, the acceleration of technological change, the increasing pace of life - all this and more make it impossible to go back to the world, if it ever existed, of home-cooked meals, traditional restaurant dinners, high-quality foods, meals loaded with surprises, and restaurants run by chefs free the express their creativity