The Cycle Continues
Contemporary Sociological Theory 302
Dr. L. Kanter
Abstract
The McDonaldization of Society describes a process that the world is undergoing to produce societies that are more efficient and fast paced. McDonaldization has turned our society into a society that is built upon convenience and gaining the most for our money in the fastest way possible. The short term effects of McDonaldization are proving to most to be worthwhile and beneficial but on a larger scale the continued McDonaldization of our society will prove to be disastrous.
The Cycle Continues
George Ritzer begins his book of The McDonaldization of Society, by defining McDonaldization 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 of the rest of the world” (Ritzer, 1). This process of McDonaldization is built upon four main factors: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Ritzer adds a fifth element to his ingredient list that counters the aforementioned points: the irrationality of rationality. Ritzer further relates his theories of McDonaldization to society by incorporating the themes and thoughts of sociologist Max Weber into his explanations of how and why society is able to operate and further incorporate rationality into its very being. Weber describes what Ritzer calls McDonaldization as bureaucracy. He says, “a bureaucracy is a large-scale organization composed of a hierarchy of offices” (Ritzer, 22). A bureaucracy is a systematic grouping of individuals that are each equipped with a set of responsibilities and a means of how to effectively complete and meet those responsibilities. McDonaldization and bureaucracies both represent the continuing evolution of our society.
The first point that Rizter makes about McDonaldization is its ability to provide efficiency to its consumers. He describes efficiency as, “the optimum method for getting from one point to another” (Ritzer, 12). In the 21st century everything is faced paced. We have elevators because we do not want to waste energy and time traveling up and down stairs, we have valet parking because it is easier to pull up to the door of an event then to have to park our cars and then walk back to the door, we have things like instant credit, instant grits and coffee, microwave ovens and frozen dinners. We only have twenty-four hours in each day and yet we have twenty-nine hours worth of errands to run and deadlines to meet. As Ritzer describes efficiency as the optimum method for getting from one point to another he is describing the constant evolution of our society. We have gone from the horse and buggy to the 120 horsepower trucks that can go from zero to sixty in under forty seconds. We no longer have time to wait and wait and wait for things to get done. We are in a hurry and to condense our twenty-nine hours into twenty-four hours the most efficient system had to be developed. Weber saw bureaucracy as the most efficient system. The goal of the bureaucracy was mass production: Being able to efficiently produce products at a pace that produced mass qualities and required the least amount of time and effort.
Next, Ritzer discusses calculability. “Calculability is an emphasis on the quantitative aspects of products sold and services offered” (Ritzer, 12). Here Ritzer is pointing out our bad habit of thinking that bigger must mean better if it is cheaper. Looking down the aisles of any grocery store it is obvious that packaging is what sells most items. Take for example a bag of potato chips. On the bag the chips are colorful, whole and they are usually big and they come in a big bag. But in taking a closer look or closer feel it becomes obvious that even though the bag is bigger and the chips are larger the amount of chips in the bag is less that what we expect. Squeezing the top of a bag of chips will reveal that the first half of the bag is filled with air to make the bag appear full. However, as consumers we feel that as long as these chips will quickly satisfy our hunger without emptying our pockets then we are getting the most for our money. Ritzer says that this type of thinking only leads to the producer making a larger profit and the consumer losing out on quality. In bureaucracies the reduction of quality and the increase of quantity is essential for the production of goods. The goal of the producer is to produce the maximum amount of a good or service without spending too much time on making sure that the quality of the good or service is at its maximum level. This lack of regard for quality is in response to the quick pace at which society is constantly moving and the commandment that things move faster.
The third aspect is predictability. Predictability is, “the assurance that products and services will be the same over and in all locales” (Ritzer, 13). As a society surprises are not things that we accept with open arms. We form and we join organizations that put us in the company of like-minded individuals. We develop close-knit friendships with people who like to watch the same things we do, go to the same places that we frequent and who share similar lifestyles. Whenever we encounter unpredictable people or circumstances we are put outside of our comfort zones. Take for example how we grudgingly accept the idea of homosexuality. Here we have a group of people who, by societies standards, are exhibiting deviant behaviors. Instead of embracing and welcoming them into our communities, we shun them hoping that this treatment will cause them to awake with a newfound direction in and outlook on life. Weber explains the predictability of bureaucracies as a result of the establishment or the system of rules upon which a company governs itself. These rules present an order of business that must be followed. They allow the workers as well as the consumers to know what is to be expected at all times. There are no room for surprises in an efficiently run bureaucracy.
The fourth point of McDonaldization is control. This aspect brings the other three components together into a single point. Ritzer describes the control that is exerted in a McDonaldized society as the efficiency that consumers receive as they enter the marketplace of goods and services, the known and assumed quality and quantity of goods and services received that we refer to as calculability and the predictability that consumers of a McDonaldized society demand. By engaging the society in a dependence on efficiency, calculability and predictability producers are able to control the consistency of their products and in essence control the satisfaction of their consumers. Weber describes this control in the sense of limiting individuals to certain tasks and not allowing them to assert any individual, creative, or innovative thoughts in the performance their tasks. Weber says that this leads to the replacement of human beings with machines, “by making few, if any, judgments, people begin to resemble human robots or computers. Having reduced people to this status, leaders of bureaucracies can think about actually replacing human beings with machines” (Ritzer, 24). By implanting these thoughts into the minds of employees, producers are forcing them to work harder and faster out fear from losing their jobs.
Our society has welcomed its McDonaldization because the old slumber has been replaced with the fast pace of the beat of a drum. With that beat comes some infrequency. Both Ritzer and Weber describe how even though the immediate effects of McDonaldization and bureaucracies are positive the long term effects will produce negative realities that will be hard to cope with if we do not slow down and re-evaluate our need for speed. These effects will prove that the rational way that we view the progress of our society is actually irrational. The systems that we have created to guarantee efficiency will dehumanize us and entrap us into limited thinking. We will lose our individuality and we will become a group of like people with limited skills and little, if any, creativity. Weber says the society will be, “locked into a series of rational structures, who could be moved only from one rational system to another. Society would eventually become nothing more than a seamless web of rationalized structures; there would be no escape” (Ritzer, 25). Both Ritzer and Weber see this process as an “iron cage” that traps and surrounds people into these monotonous routines without giving them the directions on where to locate the exit.
Ritzer quotes poet Dylan Thomas as saying, “Do not go gentle into that good night…Rage, rage against the dying of the light” (Ritzer, 232). Throughout this story of McDonaldization, Ritzer has painted a picture of a society that depends on efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. These attributes are sound, solid and honorable. They sound like the qualities that one looks for when they are searching for a mate or a place of employment. The mirror image of this picture reveals that that beneath the surface of this canvas the paint is still wet. Our fast paced society is creating a systematic change in the way individuals are learning to perform their duties as participants in the job market. Instead of learning every aspect of a trade people are being taught the basics. Specialized fields are being populated with people who have little understanding of the intricate parts of how these particular services are supposed to be performed. We are losing our individuality and we are being replaced by machines. The need for good quality goods and services is being replaced by a need for high quantities of goods and services. For many this system of McDonaldization is the perfect system. It supplies all of their needs and they can foresee only the improvements of this system. For others, who have experienced the leisure that life has to offer, the continuation of this process proves dreadful.
Personally, I believe that a medium needs to be reached between the two extremes. I am a product of the McDonaldized society, so I cannot imagine living in a society where it takes twenty minutes to order a pizza. However, I do believe that a continuation at the pace that we are going is going to prove harmful for our planet as well as for us. As Ritzer mentions, there are ecological problems associated with the processes that must be completed to produce this fast paced lifestyle that are not compatible with our environment. If our society continues to evolve in the way that it is going we will incur economic problems because of the rate at which people will be replaced by machines. The competition and the value of an education will become fierce because of the limited professions that people will have the ability to enter. I think that escape from the “iron cage” is possible as long as the outcome is not a return to the past.
References
Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press, 2000.