Preview

Mcdonaldization of Society Essay Example

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
3353 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mcdonaldization of Society Essay Example
The McDonaldization of: If you have ever had a meal in a restaurant (fast-food/formal dining), used an ATM in a bank, spent your vacation at an amusement park or simply browsed through a mall, you have been exposed to McDonaldization. McDonaldization is "the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of America society as well as the rest of the world" (Ritzer, 1996, 1). Nearly ever aspect of today's society has been affected by McDonaldization including the restaurant business, education, work, healthcare, travel, leisure, dieting, politics and the family (Ritzer, 1996, 1). I observed three East Side Mario's Restaurant's establishments while the dinner menu was being served on Saturday evenings between 6pm and 8pm to evaluate the ways in which McDonaldization has affected their company. On January 29th I visited East Side Mario's in London, Ontario, on February 19th I visited East Side Mario's in Plano, Texas (I used to hold a job as a server at this location) and on February 26th I visited East Side Mario's in Orange, California. With the diversity of locations I was able to observe, I compared and contrasted many angles of the East Side Mario's concept. East Side Mario's Restaurants Inc. is one of the millions of business' that has implemented the four principles of McDonaldization, which are: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. With the assistance of Bernard Platt, Vice President of Marie Callender's Pie Shops, Inc., former Vice President of East Side Mario's Restaurant, Inc., I will offer a condensed presentation of East Side Mario's history to get you familiar with the business. East Side Mario's Restaurants, Inc., is a wholly owned division of Marie Callender's Pie Shops, Inc. In 1987 a partnership of restaurateurs developed the ESM (for the remainder of this case study I will us the initial ESM to refer to East Side Mario's Restaurants, Inc.) concept in

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Carvel Case

    • 4713 Words
    • 19 Pages

    1.0 Introduction In 1934, Tom Carvel founded Carvel Corporation. It had one of the oldest and most endearing histories of all the ice cream companies in the U.S. Mr. Carvel used a combination of fresh ice cream and innovative products and manufacturing techniques to establish himself as the local, family-orientated ice cream parlor in the New York City area. In 1947, Mr. Carvel franchised his first store and proceeded to become one of the pioneers in fast food franchising. Throughout the 1960s and 70s, the gravely-voiced Mr. Carvel used his folksy and savvy style to dominate the greater New York area. By standardizing procedures and providing franchisees with exclusive product designs and marketing material, Mr. Carvel expanded all along the East Coast. By the early 1980s, there were over 800 Carvel stores in operation along the East Coast and in some Midwestern states. However, by the mid 1980s, the recession and the strain on Tom Carvel to manage his business began to take its effect on the franchise. Sales and quality control began to decline, and events forced Mr. Carvel to consider changes. In 1989, faced with diminishing sales and increasing store closures, Tom Carvel reluctantly sold his company to Investcorp, a Bahrainianbased investment-banking group. The Investcorp strategy centered on acquiring previously gainful companies whose profitability had diminished in recent years due to recession. By infusing new capital and bringing in a new management team headed by CEO Steve Fellingham, the former president of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Investcorp focused on growth and revamping Carvel’s listless image. Management was forced to walk a fine line between creating a new, vibrant image for Carvel and alienating longtime, loyal customers. Currently, Carvel Corporation’s mission statement is ‘Working together, we will make Carvel the leading choice for unique, quality frozen desserts by consistently exceeding customer expectations’. In 1994, Steve Fellingham…

    • 4713 Words
    • 19 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sam's Club Predictability

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages

    While further expanding the conversation on McDonaldization in American Society I would have to say that drive-through windows and supersized food options at restaurants along with banks, education systems and clinics, showcase McDonaldization because they base everything off the four dimensions within Ritzer’s…

    • 548 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Benihana vs Broadway Pizza

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages

    | The competitive priorities for Benihana were to increase efficiency in the traditional restaurant model by using innovation to cut costs i.e. Hibachi and Umbrella drinks and using highly trained skilled labor to ensure customer service. Broadway Pizza also placed competitive priority on innovation by adding robotic entertainment to a family restaurant, however the lesson to be learned is that Broadway pizza innovated for the sake of innovation there was no benefit to the shareholders. Benihana…

    • 1443 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article “McDonaldization of Society” the author, George Ritzer, discusses Rationalization which is a concept which was coined by the German sociologist Max Webber in the 19th century. Rationalization has 5 distinct dimensions which are efficiency, control, dehumanization, quantity over quality, and predictability. Moreover, Ritzer claims that society has become so focused on being efficient which means finding the easiest and fastest way to achieve a goal, an example of that dimension provided by the author is the nazi concentration camps which were built to exterminate Jewish people. Also, Ritzer claims that another characteristic of society nowadays is predictability.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The “McDonaldization” of society, is what Ritzer believes to be the direction the country is moving in. In the text, Ritzer discussed the way a Mcdonald’s restaurant works, and how it relates to society today. Components such as “efficiency, calculability, uniformity, and control” (Appelbaum, P.R.) are good examples of how behavior is becoming more routine. In relation to society, Ritzer argues that “McDonaldization is making social life more homogenous, more rigid, and less personal.” (Appelbaum, P.R.) In the McDonalds system, the goal is for the consumers to get their products quickly, or to master a method in the fastest way possible. Because of this, technology has played a huge part in the process, making human responsibility decrease.…

    • 217 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Ritzer, in his acclaimed sociological commentary, The McDonaldization of Society, defines “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 the rest of the world” (Ritzer). Ritzer deems modern Western society an entity in which the individual in his or her natural creative, free-thinking state is rapidly being eclipsed by an authoritative, de-humanizing force in the name of technological progress. Ritzer names four major aspects key to the McDonaldization process: predictability, control, calculability, and efficiency (Ritzer). Ritzer asserts that via these four elements comprising the McDonaldization phenomenon, our society, along with myriad societies that emulate or are influenced by ours, is rapidly growing more impersonal, hierarchical, and mindlessly efficient—in short, more like a well-oiled fast food restaurant assembly line, and less like a society of interacting individuals.…

    • 566 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sociology

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages

    the placement of a McDonald’s franchise in every community with more than 5,000 inhabitants AND the domination of numerous sectors of societies throughout the world by principles initially used by fast food restaurants.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Human Adventure Course

    • 2300 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Following George Ritzer’s theory of McDonaldization, this course examines the pros and cons of living in a rationalized world where standardization, predictability, and control prevail. As students learn the sociological concepts of bureaucracy, consumer society, social structures, social change, and social interaction, they will develop their sociological imagination to reclaim a place for creativity, meaning, individuality, and free will in the late modern world.…

    • 2300 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mcdonaldization

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages

    . McDonaldization is a term used by Sociologist George Ritzer. He explains it as the method in which a culture takes on the characteristics of a fast-food facility. Ritzer analyses the particular ways in which the success of the American hamburger chain has impacted upon not only economic patterns, but in particular on a multitude of facets of social life in general; Basing his analysis on Max Weber's theory of rationalization.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In today's ever changing and flexible society, people have a sense of solidity and affinity. One way we do so is through what sociologist George Ritzer calls Mcdonaldization. Mcdonaldization is the process by which the principles of efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control shape organization and decision making, in the United states and around the world. These principles, as Ritzer argued, “have been emulated by many organizations, ranging from medical care to wedding planning to education” (Witt,111). The success of Mcdonaldization, and the very well known restaurant Mcdonald's is due to the use of the components-- efficiency, calculability, predictability, control shape and decision making and irrationality of rationality.…

    • 896 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Super Size Me

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages

    We then take a look at the massive number of fast food restaurants around the world, but primarily focus in on McDonald’s. With more than thirty thousand restaurants in over one hundred countries on six continents, McDonald’s is by far the largest fast food chain in the world, serving over forty-six million people worldwide every day and accounting for forty-three percent of the fast food market in the United States (Spurlock, 2004). The convenience of eating a meal at a McDonald’s is obvious, and their widespread number of locations make it easy to obtain their products; from highways and plazas to airports and hospitals.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Health care is something that affects every person in this country, and the rising cost is making it nearly impossible for people to afford. In The McDonaldization of Society, George Ritzer shows how the health care industry is changing and how the phenomenon of McDonaldization is effecting how we receive health care. Healthcare has become more efficient, calculable, predictable, and controlling. In the following sections, I will explore further these aspects of McDonaldization and how they relate to the health care industry.…

    • 2244 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Ritzer, in his book The McDonaldization of Society, has given a good understanding of the kind of world we live in. He describes the concept of McDonaldization, which is the process in which the principles that form the basis of McDonalds are greatly influencing the rest of society. McDonalds runs its business on the following key elements: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control by non-human technologies. A fifth element, which Ritzer perceives as a disadvantage of McDonaldization, is the irrationality of rationality. This is the idea that a society which is based entirely on rationality is not a normal human society because humans are not created to be rational. According to Ritzer, “rational systems serve to deny human reason; rational systems are often unreasonable.”(pg. 13) Ritzer, in his book, applies all these principles of McDonaldization to other spheres of life besides fast-food, such as the literary industry, the culinary industry, the fashion industry, and other services. Even though he tries, and I think, succeeds, in trying to remain as objective as possible, Ritzer establishes himself as being apprehensive of, or against, the widespread influence of McDonaldization. He discusses the ideas in the history of mankind which have lead to McDonaldization, such as the principles of the Holocaust and the assembly line production. Then, Ritzer proceeds to describe each of the five key elements of McDonaldization in detail, using the McDonalds model or other examples. Eventually, the reader gets a complete picture of McDonaldization and how it affects their world. Ritzer also discusses how McDonaldization might affect our future. It has such a deep impact on our life that it is influencing not only our physical and material life, but also the very miracles of creation and destruction. McDonaldization has affected each and every sphere of our being.…

    • 1213 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Obesity in North America

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Fast food has become so important in today’s society, because for the main part it is an issue of convenience. In today’s, always on the move society, McDonalds and other fast food chains take advantage of our all too hectic nature. Fast food in Canada and the United States is readily available much more than in other countries in the United Kingdom or in Europe. Though fast food is a growing issue in Europe and the United Kingdom it is a larger issue in North America because of the reliance on it in society. An example of how available fast food chains are is, Manhattan Island is approximately 13 miles long by 2 miles wide but contains 89 McDonalds restaurants. That’s roughly one McDonalds in every four blocks.…

    • 1128 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    PESTEL Barbados

    • 8315 Words
    • 86 Pages

    entering the market and for spreading the product across the island. Among all 699 restaurants…

    • 8315 Words
    • 86 Pages
    Powerful Essays