Globalization and the
Economy, PART II
McDonaldization of Society
 McDonaldization is defined 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."
 It is seen as a wide-ranging process
affecting many sectors of society
 (e.g. religion, education, and criminal
justice).
 Over half of McDonald's restaurants are
outside the United States (in the mid
1980s,only 25% of McDonald's were
outside the United States).
 Other nations have developed their own
variants on the McDonald's chain.
Canada has a chain of coffee shops
called Tim Hortons (merged with
Wendy's in 1995), with 2,711 outlets
(336 in the United States).
Dimensions of
McDonaldization
 Calculability emphasizes the
quantitative aspects of products sold
(portion size, cost) and services offered
(the time it takes to get the product). In
McDonaldized systems, quantity has
become equivalent to quality; a lot of
something, or the quick delivery of it,
means it must be good.
 "I'm going to eat too much, but I'm
never going to pay too much."
Dimensions of
McDonaldization
 One important element of the success
of McDonald’s is efficiency, or the
optimum method for getting from one
point to another.
 Workers in McDonaldized systems
function efficiently by following the
steps in a predesigned process.
 The best available way to get from
being hungry to being full.
 McDonald's also offers predictability,
the assurance that products and
services will be the same over time and
in all locales. The Egg McMuffin in New
York will be, for all intents and
purposes, identical to those in Chicago,
Los Angeles, and Guam.
 McDonald's model offer similar
efficiency in exercising, losing weight,
lubricating cars, getting new glasses or
contacts, or completing income tax
forms.
 The fourth element in the success of
McDonald's, control, is exerted over
the people who enter the world of
McDonald's. Lines, limited menus, few
options, and uncomfortable seats all
lead diners to do what management
wishes them to do - eat quickly and
leave.
 Drive-through (in some cases, walkthrough) window invites diners to leave
before they eat.
George Ritzer’s Analogy of
McDonaldization
•Control of humans, both workers and
consumers, by use of technology:
•strict training, narrow tasks, close
supervision
•limited menu of choices, few options, and
controlled environment
•remove or distance humans from the
process entirely
Advantages of McDonaldization
 McDonaldized systems offer comfort and
stability in a rapidly changing world
 Easy to compare competing products which
empowers the consumer
 Some things benefit from closely regulated
and controlled system (like weight loss)
 People are likely to be treated similarly
 Innovation diffuses more rapidly
 Popular things move from culture to culture
rapidly
Advantages of McDonaldization
 Wider range of good and services
available to more people in more places
 Able to get what you want instantly and
conveniently
 Goods and services are far more
uniform and consistent
 Far more economical
 People have less time efficiency helps
 McDonald’s: "ultimate icon of
Americana."
 And now McDonaldization is coming full
circle. Other countries with their own
McDonaldized institutions have begun
to export them to the United States.
 The Body Shop
 Bath and Body Works followed
Malcom Waters
 Must globalization be understood as
force of homogenization?
 Can we assume that McDonaldization
only has homogenizing effects?
 There is a single globalization localization
process in which local sensibilities are
aroused and exacerbated in
fundamentalist forms by such
modernizing flows as McDonaldization.
 The emerging global culture is likely to
exhibit a rich level of diversity that arises
out of this intersection.