Mcdonalization Essay, Research Paper
The McDonaldization of Society Outline
Chapter 1
McDonaldization is when a certain area starts to acquire efficiency, calculability, predictability
and control.
a. McDonalds as America-This is meant that McDonalds is a part of America and everything that
other countries want in there country. It is a symbol of a growing culture.
b. The long arm of McDonaldization- this long arm is McDonalds reaching out to every country.
They are trying to put a McDonalds there, they want to dominate in every country.
c. The dimension of McDonaldization- The four dimensions of McDonalds are:
Efficiency- McDonalds is efficient in every way, best location, you can get your food quick, easy
from going to being hungry to being full.
Calculability- they sell everything in just the right proportions, for a good price. “Bigger is
better”
Control- they control everything, from lines being short, limited menu, few options and
uncomfortable seats so the people eat quicker and leave quicker.
d. Advantages of McDonaldization- there are lots of advantages:
- Wide rage of goods and services
- Availability of goods and services
- People are able to get what they want or get it almost right away conveniently
- Goods and Services are far more uniform quality
e. Critique of McDonaldization- this is meant by, that McDonalds has a lot of pluses,
but it must certainly have a lot of downfalls.
What is not McDonaldized?
Things that aren’t Mcdonalized are small mom and pop stores and bed and breakfast inns. Most
of the places that are personally runned not by big corporations.
Chapter 2
McDonalds had a few precursors before it became such a big company. They just didn’t pop up
out of the thin air. Bureaucratization was a part of the growth people had to listen to each other.
People had to carry out responsibilities. The Holocaust is compared as a McDonalized society.
They had all the characteristics such as control, calculability, and efficiency. The assembly line
was also very important, workers were not to do any steps that they were not to do, some of the
parts had to move the least possible distance, machines were to move things not humans, and
complicated movements are eliminated. Levittown was also a result of the assembly line. The
Levit brothers put up house really quick using that method. The malls also were invented, they
were good for many reasons. They had lots of stores under one roof, making it easier for people
to shop instead of traveling to different places everything was under one room even a food court
to eat.
Chapter 3
1. Efficiency increases the pace of life. When you have efficiency it saves time and money. It
keeps perfect timing production, faster services, streamlined operations and a tight schedule.
Efficiency is choosing the optimum means to and end. The restaurant business really didn’t need
efficiency, but it helped efficiency be turned into a way of life.
2. Home cooking- Efficiency was created with home cooking by creating supermarkets with food
and all you have to do is go buy the food. You don’t have to go threw the hassles of hunting your
food. TV dinners added to the efficiency. Cookbooks also added to the efficiency.
Shopping- shopping was made more efficient when we created malls. Having all sorts of stores
under one roof. Without having to travel from place to place and waste time. At a mall you have
a food court movies and all kinds of stores to satisfy your needs as well as others needs.
Higher Education- this has become more efficient in some ways. A while ago teachers used to
grade papers by hand, know all they have to do is give a multiple choice exam and the machine
will grade it for them saving lots of time.
Health Care- they have the new heart surgery assembly line, which makes it faster and more
efficient to do. They also have walk in and walk out clinics to take care of your problem in one
appointment. Whatever your problem is they give you the maximum cure to cure you in one
visit.
Entertainment- this turned efficient when we started having video rentals instead of going the
movies. We also have television with the option of watching two shows at once. Pay per view is
also another option, instead of going out to rent a move just order one from T.V.
Workplace- having computers at a work place makes things more efficient and quicker for us.
Having fax machines helps us send things without mail or email sending messages to each other
at work.
Chapter 4
1. Calculability- calculating, counting, quantifying. When numerical standards are added for
each process and end result.
2. Calculability is intertwined with other dimensions- if people go and eat somewhere they want
it to be the same every time. So if the food is the same weight and size every time is predictable.
3. Emphasizing quantity rather than quality- when people see a lot of something they forget
about the quality, people rather have more.
Giving illusion of quantity- making it look like it is a lot but, it really is not.
Reducing production and service to numbers- this is when you have everything down to a weight
like the length and weight of a hamburger at McDonalds. That’s how it should be every time.
4. College Education- Calculability applies to college in a couple of ways. The GPA a number of
your whole high school and college education summed up into one number. Some employees are
hired by their class rankings which is a number.
Health Care- Calculability comes in when certain things like shortening times with patients and
maximizing the number of patients see in one day. This makes more money.
T.V.- television is basically all advertising. That were calculability comes in. Its all to make
more money. When a show has high ratings it is kept on air, but when it doesn’t it is eventually
not shown anymore.
Politics- it is used hear by the politicians using polls for their campaigns.
5. Computers helped calculability by helping organize everything in numbers. Especially making
things efficient. Computers do a lot of work that humans couldn’t do by hand or it took them to
long. It replaces humans in some ways. Computers over humans saves time and money.
Chapter 5
1. Predictability- to know what to expect from one time to another. Nothing changes, no
surprises.
2. Motels- each different chain of motel has the same kind of style of rooms everywhere they
have a motel. Nothing changes in there rooms keeps the predictability
Higher Education- Most colleges offer similar courses and curriculums. There are a limited
variety of textbooks and all the college use the same ones, so there is a similarity. Testing is
predictable students are used to taking multiple choice tests.
Work Place- having the same work environment everyday helps workers know what they are
doing, it doesn’t surprise them.
a. Replicating the setting- making each setting the same so that people aren’t surprised. It keeps
it predictable.
b. Scripting interaction with customers- the workers say the same thing over and over cause they
are trained to, they want everything to be predictable.
c. Predictable employer behavior and products- when the employees behavior is the same all the
time and the product is the same.
Chapter 6
1. Control- replacement of humans by non- human technology, its oriented by greater control.
When a machine does the job of a human such as a in a factory.
2. The fast food industry controls its product by serving it in a controlled proportions. Each
product is served the same size every time. The process is controlled by the machines a lot of the
work done to make the food is done by the machines. We only give the customer a certain
selection so they can’t make up what they want. That’s how we control the customers.
3. Education- Class periods are controlled by the universities. The students leave at a certain
time, no more no less. Even if the teacher is sin the middle of a lecture. Some schools require
final grades within 48 hours after the exam, so that forces the teachers to have a computer-graded
exams.
Health Care- the control in the healthcare field is used by computers. You can find out a
diagnosis from a computer without going to a doctor.
Workplace- in the workplace the boss has the control. The workers are given a set of
responsibilities to do and when they are done they pass it on. The workers are like the machines.
Chapter 7
1. McDonaldizatoin may have some drawbacks. The drawback is that a lot of the things are dehumanizing.
2. Irrationality of Rationality- this is a term for the negative drawbacks of the aspects of
McDonaldization.
3. Inefficiency- when there are long lines at the counter that is inefficient. When there is a long
line of cars in the drive threw. That means not enough food is being made fast enough to keep
the flow going.
4. It should be renamed expensive world because everything there is expensive. It is really not
worth your time. With all the money you spend, you really don’t get that much fun time.
5. The illusions are made by all the characters of McDonalds, it even has a play ground. So
everytime you go you get the illusion of fun and play even though they want your in and out of
that place fast.
Chapter 8
The unpredictabilities of birth and death are going down. People now have the options on how to
pick their child, whether to have a boy or girl. They are having designer babies. Basically, the
parents can have what they want. People are even having designer deaths. They are getting
crynologically frozen, so maybe in the future we can bring them back.
Chapter 9
1. The forces that drive McDonaldization are materials interest, the culture of the U.S., which
values McDonaldization as a end in itself and McDonaldization attainment to important changes
taking places within society.
2. Fordism- Mass production, inflexible technology, standardized work routine, efforts to
increase productivity.
Post Fordism- Declining interest in mass production, shorter production runs, flexible
production, more capable workers, greater differentiation.
3. Characteristics of Post modernism:
Association with late capitalism
Loss of historicity
Reproductive technologies
Chapter 10
1. WE can deal with McDonaldizaion by living with it.
a. Velvet cage- not a threat but a nirvana
b. Iron cage- coldness, hardness and great discomfort, hates McDonaldization.
c. Rubber Cage- these people like certain parts but dislikes others.
2. People were fighting against McDonaldization in many different ways. Some groups were
saying that McDonalds was exploiting children. Other groups were saying that the food was not
healthy and can cause clogged arteries. People would write petitions to keep them out of the
towns.
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