Mcdonaldization project
“McDonaldization” is a term coined by the sociologist George Ritzer to describe attempts to make human life more homogeneous, predictable, and machine-manageable. The McDonald's fast food chain pioneered many of these techniques starting in the 1950s, but observers have traced their effects in virtually all areas of Americans’ lives, from Scantron grading to ATM machines to Netflix to amazon.com. Some of these products and services are great and we value the low prices, efficiency, convenience, and predictability made possible by McDonaldization. But the same features of anonymity, machine-management, and sameness are all there, and there are problems with that, too, especially when they eliminate human interaction and shut out opportunities for creativity and individualism.
For this project, you will disrupt some aspect of a McDonaldized process. You can decide how, but the basic idea is to get a routinized process to have a routine change and then to observe the social and practical results. However, the goal is not to be impolite; on the contrary, the goal of this exercise is to interrupt McDonalidization in order to have a positive, human interaction that wouldn't have been possible if everyone had followed the normal rules.
Thinking of processes that have become McDonaldized shouldn’t be too difficult, but this assignment may involve some uncomfortable moments. To get the most out of this exercise, don’t relent too easily if you meet with resistance – and you almost certainly will meet with it. Just make sure to challenge the routinized system in a civil way that invites positive human interaction. You will write 750-1000 words on the experience. Was it easy, or hard? Were your requests met? How did the people around you – people presumably used to McDonaldization – react? And how did you feel, since doing something like this probably involved breaking some codes of normal social interaction? Discuss the appeal of McDonaldization as well as some of its drawbacks. One constraint: you may not use McDonalds itself as your example. Reminder: Make sure to refer to at least two class readings, films, or other sources in your essay. |