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YO! Sushi restaurants in the UK
enhance McDonald’s rationalization
approach by making the creation and
distribution of the food into an urban,
Tokyo-style eating experience.
of collective and individual
actions and interactions is now
s h ap e d by ef fi c ienc y, c a lc u l a bi l it y,
predictability, control, and
rationalization costs.
This is an extension of Weber’s
argument that, once set in motion,
the process of rationalization is
self-perpetuating and proliferates
until it covers virtually every aspect
of social life. To remain competitive
in the market, firms must adhere
to the principles of rationality and
efficiency being used by others.
Ritzer cites a host of examples to
substantiate his claims, including
fast-food chains, such as Subway,
and children’s toy stores, such
as Toys “R” Us. All of these
corporations have self-consciously
adopted McDonald’s principles as
a way of organizing their activities.
While Ritzer admires the
efficiency and capacity to adapt
to change demonstrated by
the McDonald’s fast-food chain
since its inception in 1940, he is
simultaneously wary of the
dehumanizing effects that the
pursuit of rationalization can lead
to. Echoing Weber’s notion of the
“iron cage,” Ritzer argues that
although McDonald’s has assumed
iconic status as a highly efficient
and profitable Western corporation,
the spread of its principles across
an increasing number of spheres of
human activity leads to alienation.
As a transnational corporation,
McDonald’s plays a significant role
as a carrier of Western rationality.
To this end, according to Ritzer,
McDonaldization is one of the
key elements of global cultural
homogenization. However, critics
of this position, such as British
sociologist John Tomlinson,
rebut this charge by using the
concept of glocalization. Tomlinson
acknowledges that McDonald’s is
a global brand, but points out that
it does make allowances for local
contingencies and contexts. An
example of this is the adaptation
of products to conform to local
dietary conventions, such as
including vegetarian burgers
on menus in India.MODERN LIVING
Two decades after it first appeared,
Ritzer’s McDonaldization thesis
remains as pertinent as ever, if
not more so. Ritzer and others
have continued to work to apply,
recalibrate, and update it across
a range of topics, including the
sociology of higher education.
A collection of essays edited by
British social thinkers Dennis
Hayes and Robin Wynyard,
The McDonaldization of Higher
Education, contains a range of
arguments that draw upon Ritzer.
For example, Hayes claims that
the traditional value-base on which
higher education was founded—
from college to postgraduate
university-level education—
is rapidly being replaced by
standardization, calculability, and
so on. Furthermore, argues Hayes,
the McDonaldization of higher
education holds true for students
as much as it does for academic
institutions and staff because,
increasingly, the former approach
education with a rational mindset
as a means to an end, rather than
as an end in itself. ■Within sociology, theory is
one of the least likely elements
to be McDonaldized, yet it too
has undergone that process,
at least to some extent.
George Ritzer