McDonalization of Society

Throughout history, society, in general, has been evolving and developing at a rapid rate. Nowadays, society has evolved using a process that can only be describes as McDonaldization. George Ritzer, the author of The McDonaldization of Society, defines this word 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, 1). There are four dimensions that are fundamental to the success of McDonalization: calculability, efficiency, predictability, and control (Ritzer, 13). If I had never read this book, I would have never noticed but it really opened my eyes to how much these dimensions, particularly predictability and control, emerge in our everyday lives.

The first dimension of McDonaldization is calculability, which “emphasizes the quantitative aspects of products sold (portion size, cost) and services offered (the time it takes to get the product),” (Ritzer, 14). Thus, McDonald’s, along with other fast-food restaurants, highlight things that can be enumerated and calculated. After reading this book, I’ve noticed that society tends to calculate things as well. For instance, whenever my friend tells me she is leaving her house to come to my house, she always says, “See you in 5-7 minutes.” I never once thought twice about but. Wouldn’t a simple “See you soon,” do? She continuously feels the need to calculate the exact amount of time that it takes her to arrive to her planned destination.

In the fast-food industry, there is a high importance placed on the value of time and an enormous emphasis on quantity over quality. McDonald’s didn’t reach success by making a quality, grade-A burger; they became successful by making a decent burger extremely fast for little money. Society tends to gravitate towards fast-food because it doesn’t take more than five minutes and it is a cheap meal. McDonald’s may have started this using a factory-style, quantitative approach, but today it has transitioned into the majority of industries. This is because quality products and services are costly and take time. As they say in the business world, time is money.

Another dimension of McDonaldization is efficiency, which is defined in the book as, “the optimum method for getting from one point to another,” (Ritzer, 13). Commonly, in American society people always seem like they are in a rush. A prime example is the city that never sleeps, New York City. If you don’t keep it moving on the sidewalks of New York, you may get trampled by the thousands of people constantly on the go. For such people, taking an hour out of their hectic days to prepare a meal could be a hassle. People enjoy convenience; what is more convenient than fast food? In this day and age, many industries have converted from skilled workers who hand-crafted products to factory-style workplaces where the same products and services