The McDonaldization of society is the process by which widespread areas of society are influenced by the principles of the fast food restaurant. McDonald's was the first successful fast food chain in the United States. Today, McDonald's is synonymous with Americana. People around the world have adapted the franchise concept to businesses and institutions. A new type of jargon is even used to describe things that have "McDonald" characteristics: drive-in medical clinics are known as McDoctors, USA Today is called McPaper, minimum wage employment is referred to as a McJob. As Ritzer (1996) puts it, "McDonald's has strived to continually extend its reach within American society and beyond" (p. 5). McDonaldization is based on the following four concepts: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control.
The cartoon of the computer pushing the struggling guy into the spotlight is an example of the efficiency and control aspects of McDonaldization. The article that the cartoon refers to describes an Internet credit reporting agency that can download personal information about consumers. Granted, this information is public record, but it is available through such a wide range of sources (credit bureaus, courts, state motor vehicle departments, etc.) that the average person would not have access to it. Thus the Internet agency has created a highly efficient system of accessing highly personal information. On the other hand, having this information readily available is dehumanizing in two ways. First, it is nonhuman technology that has replaced human workers. No longer does someone have to hire a researcher to go from place to place to gather the information. Second, consumers are dehumanized because personal data is readily available to whoever has $85 to pay for a search.
2. Most colleges exhibit an emphasis on quantifiable factors. The most common example is in admissions. Students are evaluated on the basi...