McDonaldization

McDonaldization is the process of a society adopting the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. The McWord concept was first proposed by sociologist George Ritzer in his 1983 article in The Journal of American Culture and developed in his 1993 book The McDonaldization of Society. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization and scientific management. Where Max Weber used the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, Ritzer sees the fast-food restaurant as a more representative contemporary paradigm. Critiques of the McDonaldization thesis include Ahuvia and Izberk-Bilgi’s analysis of a countertrend they call eBayization, and Alexander’s argument that McDonaldization is a paralysing concept and ignores more person-centred models such as cooperatives or the Toyota Production System.

Ritzer highlighted four primary components of McDonaldization, those being efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Aside from these four aspects, Ritzer went on to state that the strategy is rational within a narrow scope but leads to outcomes that are harmful or irrational. As these processes spread to other parts of society, modern society's new social and cultural characteristics are created. For instance, as McDonald's enters a country and consumer patterns are unified, cultural hybridization occurs.

Efficiency is the optimal method for accomplishing a task. In this context, Ritzer has a very specific meaning of "efficiency". In the example of McDonald's customers, it is the fastest way to get from being hungry to being full. Efficiency in McDonaldization means that every aspect of the organization is geared toward the minimization of time.

Calculability refers to the objective being quantifiable (e.g., sales) rather than being subjective (e.g. taste). McDonaldization developed the notion that quantity equals quality, and that a large amount of product delivered to the customer in a short amount of time is the same as a high quality product. This allows people to quantify how much they are getting versus how much they are paying. Organizations want consumers to believe that they are getting a large amount of product for not a lot of money. Workers in these organizations are judged by how fast they are instead of the quality of work they do.

Predictability refers to the prevalent standardization and uniform services. "Predictability" means that no matter where a person goes, they will receive the same service and receive the same product every time when interacting with the McDonaldized organization. This also applies to the workers in those organizations. Their tasks are highly repetitive, highly routine, and predictable.

Control refers to standardized and uniform employees, and the replacement of human by non-human technologies.

Junk food news, defined here as inoffensive and trivial news served up in palatable portions, is an example of McDonaldization. Another example could be McUniversities, which features modularized curricula, delivering degrees in a fast-track pick-and-mix fashion to satisfy all tastes. The diminished quality of these products can only be disguised by extensive advertising which constantly repackages them to look new.

In penology, there has been a shift from punishments and treatment tailored to individual offenders, to attempting to control classes of offenders who are considered to be at high risk of recidivism through standardized penalties, such as those specified by three-strikes laws or sentencing guidelines. Offenders are classified by security level and sent to facilities deemed capable of adequately incapacitating prisoners in their risk category. Technology such as electronic surveillance, electronic monitoring, urinalysis, and computer-based offender tracking systems are often used in place of humans in the penal system.