Table of Contents

1. An Introduction to McDonaldization
McDonald’s as an American and a Global Icon
The Long Arm of McDonaldization
The Dimensions of McDonaldization
A Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality
Illustrating the Dimensions of MCDonaldization: The Case of IKEA
The Advantages of McDonaldization
What Isn’t McDonaldized?
A Look Ahead
2. The Past, Present, and Future of McDonaldization
Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational
The Holocaust: Mass-Produced Death
Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way
The Assembly Line: Turning Workers Into Robots
Levittown: Putting Up Houses—”Boom, Boom, Boom”
Shopping Centers: Malling America
McDonald’s: Creating the “Fast-Food Factory”
McDonaldization and Contemporary Social Changes
3. Efficiency and Calculability: Consumers 1
Efficiency: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods
Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips
4. Predictability and Control: Consumers 2
Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside
Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots
5. Efficiency and Calculability: McJobs and Other McDonaldized Occupations 1
McJobs and the Dimensions of McDonaldization
Efficiency: It’s a Fetish
Calculability: Zeal for Speed
6. Predictability and Control: McJobs and Other McDonaldized Occupations 2
Predictability: Scripting and Controlling Employees
Control: Even Pilots Aren’t in Control
7. The Irrationality of Rationality
Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout
High Cost: Better Off at Home
False Friendliness: “Hi, George”
Disenchantment: Where’s the Magic?
Health and Environmental Hazards: A Day’s Calories in One Fast-Food Meal
Homogenization: It’s No Different in Paris
Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at “Troff ′n′ Brew”
Dehumanized Death: Dying Amidst Machines and Strangers
The Irrationalities of McJobs: Just Hand the Bag Out
8. Dealing With McDonaldization
Creating “Reasonable” Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules
Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza di Spagna
Coping Individually: “Skunk Works,” Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds
Some Concluding Thoughts on Dealing With McDonaldization
9. Globalization and the Possibility of the DeMcDonaldization of Society?
Globalization and McDonaldization
The DeMcDonaldization of Society
The Internet and DeMcDonaldization
DeMcDonaldizing the Web?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author

About the Author

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader; and author of other works of critical sociology related to the McDonaldization thesis, including Enchanting a Disenchanted World, The Globalization of Nothing, Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, as well as a series best-selling social theory textbooks and Globalization: A Basic Text. He is the Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2 vols.), the Encyclopedia of Sociology (11 vols.; 2nd edition forthcoming), the Encyclopedia of Globalization (5 vols.), and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2016 he will publish the second edition of Essentials of Sociology with SAGE.