McDonaldization is a term used by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society. He describes it as the process by which a society takes on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization, or moving from traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management. Where Max Weber used the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, Ritzer sees the fast-food restaurant as having become a more representative paradigm contemporarily (Ritzer, 2004:553). Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups and societies. ... George Ritzer (born 1940) is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland, College Park. ... The McDonaldization of Society is a 1993 book by sociologist George Ritzer which describes Ritzers theory that society is becoming McDonaldized — that is, that commodities in society are being made to conform to predictable standardized parameters. ... Human relationships within an ethnically diverse society. ... The Big Mac from McDonalds is a seminal emblem of fast food Typical forms of fast food - potato scallops and chicken pieces Fast food is food which is prepared and served quickly at outlets called fast-food restaurants. ... In sociology, rationalization is the process whereby society rationalizes from a traditional to a modern state. ... A tradition is a story or a custom that is memorized and passed down from generation to generation, originally without the need for a writing system. ... Rational may be: the adjective for the state of rationality acting according to the philosophical principles of rationalism a mathematical term for certain numbers; the rational numbers the software company Rational Software; now owned by IBM, and formerly Rational Software Corporation This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid... Scientific management or Taylorism is the name of the approach to management and industrial and organizational psychology initiated by Frederick Winslow Taylor in his 1911 monograph The Principles of Scientific Management (Online version). ... Maximilian Weber (IPA: ) (April 21, 1864 – June 14, 1920) was a German political economist and sociologist who is considered one of the founders of the modern study of sociology and public administration. ...

Ritzer highlighted four primary components of McDonaldization:

• Efficiency - the optimal method for accomplishing a task
• Calculability - objective should be quantifiable (i.e. sales) rather than subjective (i.e. taste)
• Predictability - standardized and uniform services
• Control - standardized and uniform employees, replacement of human by non-human technologies

With these four processes, a strategy which is rational within a narrow scope can lead to outcomes that are harmful or irrational. Prediction of future events is an ancient human wish. ... Standardization, in the context related to technologies and industries, is the process of establishing a technical standard among competing entities in a market, where this will bring benefits without hurting competition. ... Social control refers to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior, in terms of greater sanctions and rewards. ...

The process of McDonaldization can be summarized as the way in which "the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world.” (Ritzer, 1993:1).

Alternatively, McDonaldization can refer to the replacement of traditional restaurants with McDonald's. Toms Restaurant, a restaurant in New York made familiar by Suzanne Vega and the television sitcom Seinfeld For other uses, see Restaurant (disambiguation). ... McDonalds in Times Square, New York Due to popularity of Starbucks and coffeeshops in general, McDonalds introduced McCafes to capitalize on this latest trend. ...

See also

• McWords
• McDojo
• McJob
• McMansion
• McWorld
• McChurch
• Cocacolonization
• organizational studies
• Fast Food Nation
• Disneyfication
• Walmarting

The McDonalds restaurant chain uses many words starting with the Mc prefix: Egg McMuffin McCafé McChicken McDonaldland McDrive McFlurry McGourmet McGriddle McRib McShake Mayor McCheese Ronald McDonald and various local McDonalds menu items. ... McDojo is an example of McWords applied to martial arts and a pejorative term used by some Western martial artists to describe a martial arts school where image or profit is of a higher importance than technical standards. ... McJob is slang for a low-pay, low-prestige job that requires few skills and offers very little chance of intracompany advancement. ... A McMansion in Needham, Massachusetts, emulating a modest farmhouse original construction on the right and a grandiose later addition to the left, simulating local historic buildings that evolved by accretion in the 18th and 19th centuries A California flat top McMansion with indefinite architectural references An Arizona McMansion incorporating extensive... McWorld is a term sometimes used a) to describe the spreading of McDonalds restaurants throughout the world, as the result of globalization, and b) more often and more generally to describe the effects of international McDonaldization of services and commercialization of goods and services as an element of globalization... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Megachurch. ... Cocacolonization or coca-colonization is a term for Americanization. ... Organizational studies, organizational behavior, and organizational theory are related terms for the academic study of organizations, examining them using the methods of economics, sociology, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ... Fast Food Nation, paperback edition Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (2001) is a book by Eric Schlosser, first serialized by Rolling Stone in 1999. ... This article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedias deletion policy. ... Walmarting is a newly formed word with three meanings. ...

References

• The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer (ISBN 0-7619-8812-2)

McDonaldization: The Reader by George Ritzer (ISBN 0-7619-8767-3)

The McDonaldization Thesis: Explorations and Extensions by George Ritzer (ISBN 0-7619-5540-2)

• McDonaldization of America's Police, Courts, and Corrections by Matthew B. Robinson
• McCitizens by Bryan Turner
• Resisting McDonaldization ed. Barry Smart
• Golden Arches East: McDonald's in East Asia by James L. Watson
• Sociology of Consumption: Fast Food, Credit Cards and Casinos ed. George Ritzer
• The McDonaldization of Higher Education Ed. Dennis Hayes & Robert Wynyard