In his book, The McDonaldization of Society, the American sociologist and Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland in the U.S, George Ritzer, presents us with its criticism of the phenomenon of “McDonaldization” that he defines 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” (p 1). Ritzer’s work proposes a real social analysis case rethinking and applying Weber’s theory of rationality to its concept. Through this book, Ritzer aims at making us aware of how, why and to what extent McDonald’s business model has become such a success through the global market in our society and but also how disastrous it can be.
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And even though it is undeniable that Mc Donald’s and fast-food restaurants are an integral part of the American culture, Ritzer shows us and invites us to open our eyes and realize that our contemporary world is immersed in McDonaldized structures wherever we are. Therefore in chapter 7, the author explains the relationship between globalization and McDonaldization saying that McDonaldization is one of a number of globalization processes. More precisely, McDonaldization is part of grobalization (The global overpowers the local) and the reason for this is “the ability of McDonaldized systems to increase profits continually expanding markets throughout the world” (p 171). This notion of grobalization is opposed to the notion glocalization (the integration of the global and the local) and both can be linked and crossed with the dual notion of nothing-something in terms of distinctive substantive content and meaningfulness. Here McDonaldization appears to be an example of the Globalization of Nothing. Indeed if each local area requires a certain rate of adaptation, it is clear that McDonaldized systems impose their norms eliminating cultural …show more content…
First, he introduces Sneakerization also called mass customization which is clearly not a significant threat to McDonaldization since it is based on McDonaldized production processes. Then he focuses on Starbuckization. Howard Schultz’s major innovation lies in the theatricalization of its coffee shops designing them as old-fashioned coffee shops where customers are actors. However Starbucks features such as high quality coffee or a third place where you can stay as long as you wish, for instance, are more myths than realities. Finally Starbucks and McDonald’s have a lot of similarities. Ebay is not a threat to McDonaldization either because to offer variety, unpredictability and market-mediated control, ebay’s structure is based on McDonald’s framework. To finish, the author analyses Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. He notices that Web 1.0 which is still coexisting with Web 2.0 is far more McDonaldized than Web 2.0 that gives the power to Internet users and enables them to create content being very unpredictable. Then Web 2.0 is maybe the more serious menace to
And even though it is undeniable that Mc Donald’s and fast-food restaurants are an integral part of the American culture, Ritzer shows us and invites us to open our eyes and realize that our contemporary world is immersed in McDonaldized structures wherever we are. Therefore in chapter 7, the author explains the relationship between globalization and McDonaldization saying that McDonaldization is one of a number of globalization processes. More precisely, McDonaldization is part of grobalization (The global overpowers the local) and the reason for this is “the ability of McDonaldized systems to increase profits continually expanding markets throughout the world” (p 171). This notion of grobalization is opposed to the notion glocalization (the integration of the global and the local) and both can be linked and crossed with the dual notion of nothing-something in terms of distinctive substantive content and meaningfulness. Here McDonaldization appears to be an example of the Globalization of Nothing. Indeed if each local area requires a certain rate of adaptation, it is clear that McDonaldized systems impose their norms eliminating cultural …show more content…
First, he introduces Sneakerization also called mass customization which is clearly not a significant threat to McDonaldization since it is based on McDonaldized production processes. Then he focuses on Starbuckization. Howard Schultz’s major innovation lies in the theatricalization of its coffee shops designing them as old-fashioned coffee shops where customers are actors. However Starbucks features such as high quality coffee or a third place where you can stay as long as you wish, for instance, are more myths than realities. Finally Starbucks and McDonald’s have a lot of similarities. Ebay is not a threat to McDonaldization either because to offer variety, unpredictability and market-mediated control, ebay’s structure is based on McDonald’s framework. To finish, the author analyses Web 1.0 and Web 2.0. He notices that Web 1.0 which is still coexisting with Web 2.0 is far more McDonaldized than Web 2.0 that gives the power to Internet users and enables them to create content being very unpredictable. Then Web 2.0 is maybe the more serious menace to