Editing George Ritzer (section)

=== McDonaldization ===
George Ritzer wrote ''The McDonaldization of Society.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rojek|first1=Chris|date=23 January 2007|title=George Ritzer and the Crisis of the Public Intellectual|journal=Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies|volume=29|issue=1|pages=3–21|doi=10.1080/10714410600552241|issn=1071-4413|s2cid=145450920}}</ref>''

Ritzer's idea of [[McDonaldization]] is an extension of [[Max Weber]]'s (1864–1920) classical theory of the [[rationalization (sociology)|rationalization]] of modern society and culture. Weber famously used the terminology "[[iron cage]]" to describe the stultifying, [[Franz Kafka|Kafkaesque]] effects of bureaucratized life,<ref>{{cite book|last=Farganis|first=James|title=Readings in Social Theory, 6th Edition|year=2010|publisher=McGraw-Hill Publishing Company|location=New York|isbn=978-0078111556}}</ref> and Ritzer applied this idea to an influential social system in the twenty-first century: [[McDonald's]]. Ritzer argues that McDonald's restaurants have become the better example of current forms of [[instrumental rationality]] and its ultimately irrational and harmful consequences on people.<ref>Ritzer, G. ''The McDonaldization of Society''. Sage Publications. Thousand Oaks, 1996</ref>
Ritzer shared similar views with Weber about rationalization. While Weber claims that “the most sublime values have retreated from public life”, Ritzer claims that even our food is subject to rationalization, whether it is “the McDonaldized experience or the steak dinner that is subjected to the fact that it contains 2,000 calories and 100 grams of fat."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Allan |first1=Kenneth |title=Explorations in Classical Sociological Theory: Seeing the Social World |date=2010 |publisher=Pine Forge Press }}</ref>”Ritzer identifies four rationalizing dimensions of McDonald's that contribute to the process of McDonaldization, claiming that McDonald's aims to increase:
# [[Efficiency]]: McDonald's delivers products quickly and easily without inputting an excessive amount of money. The "McDonald's model," and therefore the McDonald's operations, follow a predesigned process that leads to a specified end, using productive means.<ref name= McDonaldization20th >{{cite book|last1=Ritzer|first1=George|title=The McDonaldization of Society: 20th Anniversary Edition|date=2013|publisher=Sage Publications|location=Thousand Oaks, California|isbn=9781452226699}}</ref> The efficiency of the McDonald's model has infiltrated other modern-day services such as completing tax forms online, easy weight loss programs, [[The Walt Disney Company]] FASTPASSes, and online dating services, [[eHarmony]] and [[match.com]].<ref name=McDonaldization20th /><ref name="Massey 2012 453–455">{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Garth|title=Readings For Sociology, 7th Edition|year=2012|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|location=New York|isbn=9780393927009|pages=[https://archive.org/details/readingsforsocio0005unse/page/453 453–455]|url=https://archive.org/details/readingsforsocio0005unse/page/453}}</ref>
#[[Calculability]]: America has grown to connect the quantity of a product with the quality of a product and that "bigger is better".<ref name=McDonaldization20th /> The "McDonald's model" is influential in this conception due to providing a lot of food for not that much money. While the end products feed into the connection between the quantity and quality of the product, so does the McDonald's production process. Throughout the food production, everything is standardized and highly calculated: the size of the beef patty, the number of french fries per order, and the time spent in a franchise. The high calculability of the McDonald's franchise also extends over into academics. It is thought that the academic experience, in high school and higher education, can be quantified into one number, the [[GPA]]. Also, calculability leads to the idea that the longer the resume or list of degrees, the better the candidate, during an application process. In addition to academics being affected by the McDonaldization in society, sports, most specifically basketball, have also been affected. It used to be that basketball was a more laid-back, slow-paced sort of game, yet through the creation of fast-food and McDonald's, a [[shot clock]] was added to increase not only the speed of the game but also the number of points scored.<ref name=McDonaldization20th /> 
#[[Predictability]]: Related to calculability, customers know what to expect from a given producer of goods or services. For example, customers know that every [[Big Mac]] from McDonald's is going to be the same as the next one; there is an anticipated predictability to the menu as well as the overall experience. To maintain the predictability for each franchise, there has to be "discipline, order, systematization, formalization, routine, consistency, and a methodical operation".<ref name=McDonaldization20th /> The predictability of the McDonald's franchise also appears through the golden arches in front of every franchise as well as the scripts that the employees use on the customers. [[The Walt Disney Company]] also has regulations in place, like dress codes for men and women, in order to add to the predictability of each amusement park or Disney operation. Predictability has also extended into movie sequels and TV shows. With each movie sequel, like ''[[Spy Kids 4]]'', or TV show, ''[[Law & Order (franchise)|Law & Order]]'' and its spinoffs, the plot is predictable and usually follow a preconceived model.<ref name=McDonaldization20th />
#[[Control (management)|Control]]: McDonald's restaurants pioneered the idea of highly specialized tasks for all employees to ensure that all human workers are operating at exactly the same level. This is a way to keep a complicated system running smoothly; rules and regulations that make efficiency, calculability, and predictability possible.<ref name="Massey 2012 453–455"/> Oftentimes, the use of non-human technology, such as computers, is used. The McDonald's food is already "pre-prepared", the potatoes are already cut and processed, just needing to be fried and heated, and the food preparation process is monitored and tracked. The computers tell the managers how many hamburgers are needed at the lunchtime rush and other peak times and the size and shape of the pickles as well as how many go on a hamburger is managed and controlled.<ref name=McDonaldization20th /> The control aspect of McDonaldization has extended to other businesses, [[Sylvan Learning]] and phone operating systems, and even birth and death. Every step of the learning process at Sylvan, the U-shaped tables and instruction manuals, is controlled as well as each step of the birthing process, in modern-day hospitals, and the process of dying.<ref name=McDonaldization20th />

McDonaldization is profitable, desirable, and at the cutting edge of technological advances. Many "McDonald's" aspects of society are beneficial to the advancement and enhancement of human life. Some claim that rationalization leads to "more egalitarian" societies. For example, supermarkets and large grocery stores offer variety and availability unlike smaller farmer's markets from generations past. The McDonaldization of society also allows operations to be more productive, improve the quality of some products, and produce services and products at lower cost.<ref name=McDonaldization20th /> The Internet has provided countless new services to people that were previously impossible, such as checking bank statements without having to go to a bank or being able to purchase things online without leaving the house.<ref>{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Garth|title=Readings For Sociology, 7th Edition|year=2012|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|location=New York|isbn=9780393927009|pages=[https://archive.org/details/readingsforsocio0005unse/page/457 457]|url=https://archive.org/details/readingsforsocio0005unse/page/457}}</ref> These things are all positive effects of the rationalization and McDonaldization of society.

However, McDonaldization also alienates people and creates a disenchantment of the world. The increased standardization of society dehumanizes people and institutions. The "assembly line" feel of fast-food restaurants is transcending many other facets of life and removing humanity from previously human experiences.<ref name="Mann 2007 381–384">{{cite book|last=Mann|first=Douglas|title=Understanding society : a survey of modern social theory|year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Toronto|isbn=9780195421842|pages=381–384}}</ref><ref name="Massey 2012 456">{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Garth|title=Readings For Sociology, 7th Edition|year=2012|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|location=New York|isbn=9780393927009|pages=[https://archive.org/details/readingsforsocio0005unse/page/456 456]|url=https://archive.org/details/readingsforsocio0005unse/page/456}}</ref> Through implementing machines and computers in society, humans can start to "behave like machines" and therefore "become replaced by machines".<ref name=McDonaldization20th />

''The McDonaldization of Society'' has been translated into over a dozen languages and is arguably one of the best selling monographs in the history of American sociology.