As one of the most noteworthy and popular sociology books of all time, The McDonaldization of Society 5 demonstrates the power of the sociological imagination to today's readers in a way that few other books have. This engaging book, sure to spark debate both in and out of the classroom, connects the everyday world of the "twenty-something" consumer with sociological analysis. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

About the Author	xi
Preface	xiii
1 An Introduction to McDonaldization	1
McDonald's as a Global Icon	6
The Long Arm of McDonaldization	9
The Dimensions of McDonaldization	13
Efficiency	13
Calculability	14
Predictability	14
Control	15
A Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality	15
Illustrating the Dimensions of McDonaldization: The Case of Ikea	17
The Advantages of McDonaldization	19
What Isn't McDonaldized?	20
A Look Ahead	21
2 The Past, Present, and Future of McDonaldization: From the Iron Cage to the Fast-Food Factory and Beyond	23
Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational	24
Weber's Theory of Rationality	24
Irrationality and the "Iron Cage"	26
The Holocaust: Mass-Produced Death	27
Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way	29
The Assembly Line: Turning Workers Into Robots	31
Levittown: Putting Up Houses-"Boom, Boom, Boom"	33
Shopping Centers: Mailing America	35
McDonald's: Creating the "Fast-Food Factory"	36
McDonaldization and Contemporary Social Changes	39
The Forces Driving McDonaldization: It Pays, We Value It, It Fits	39
Other Major Social Changes: McDonaldization in the Era of the "Posts"	42
The Future: Are There Any Limits to the Expansion of McDonaldization?	50
Looking to the Future: De-McDonaldization?	52
3 Efficiency: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods	57
Streamlining the Process	58
The Fast-Food Industry: Speeding the Way From Secretion to Excretion	59
Home Cooking (and Related Phenomena): "I Don't Have Time to Cook"	61
Shopping: Creating Ever-More Efficient Selling Machines	63
Higher Education: Just Fill In the Box	65
Health Care: Docs-in-a-Box	66
Entertainment: Moving People (and Trash) Efficiently	67
Online Dating: Show Your Interest With Just a "Wink"	70
Other Settings: Streamlining Relationships With Even the Pope	70
Simplifying the Product	72
Putting Customers to Work	74
4 Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips	79
Emphasizing Quantity Rather Than Quality of Products	81
The Fast-Food Industry: Of "Big Bites" and "Super Big Gulps"	81
Higher Education: Grades, Scores, Ratings, and Rankings	84
Health Care: Patients as Dollar Signs	87
Television: Aesthetics Are Always Secondary	88
Sports: Nadia Comaneci Scored Exactly 79.275 Points	89
Politics: There Were No Sound Bites in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate	92
Reducing Production and Service to Numbers	93
The Fast-Food Industry: Hustle, and a Precooked Hamburger Measures Exactly 3.875 Inches	93
The Workplace: A Penny the Size of a Cartwheel	95
5 Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside	97
Creating Predictable Settings	98
Motel Chains: "Magic Fingers" but No Norman Bates	98
The Fast-Food Industry: Thank God for Those Golden Arches	99
Other Settings: E.T. Can't Find His Home	100
Scripting Interaction With Customers	102
The Fast-Food Industry: "Howdy Pardner" and "Happy Trails"	102
Other Settings: Even the Jokes Are Scripted	104
Making Employee Behavior Predictable	105
The Fast-Food Industry: Even Hamburger University's Professors Behave Predictably	106
Other Settings: That Disney Look	106
Creating Predictable Products and Processes	107
The Fast-Food Industry: Even the Pickles Are Standardized	108
Entertainment: Welcome to McMovieworld	109
Sports: There's Even a McStables	111
Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness	112
6 Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots	115
Controlling Employees	116
The Fast-Food Industry: From Human to Mechanical Robots	116
Education: McChild Care Centers	119
Health Care: Who's Deciding Our Fate?	120
The Workplace: Do as I Say, Not as I Do	121
Controlling Customers	124
The Fast-Food Industry: Get the Hell Out of There	124
Other Settings: It's Like Boot Camp	126
Controlling the Process and the Product	128
Food Production, Cooking, and Vending: It Cooks Itself	128
The Ultimate Examples of Control: Birth and Death?	131
Controlling Conception: Even Granny Can Conceive	131
Controlling Pregnancy: Choosing the Ideal Baby	132
Controlling Childbirth: Birth as Pathology	134
Controlling the Process of Dying: Designer Deaths	137
7 The Irrationality of Rationality: Traffic Jams on Those "Happy Trails"	141
Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout	142
High Cost: Better Off at Home	143
False Friendliness: "Hi, George"	144
Disenchantment: Where's the Magic?	146
Health and Environmental Hazards: Even Your Pets Are at Risk	148
Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris	151
Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at "Trough and Brew"	152
Fast-Food Industry: Gone Is the "Greasy Spoon"	155
Family: The Kitchen as Filling Station	156
Higher Education: McLectures and McColleges	158
Health Care: You're Just a Number	159
Dehumanized Death	160
8 Globalization and McDonaldization: Does It All Amount to..."Nothing"?	163
Globalization	164
McDonaldization and Grobalization	168
Nothing-Something and McDonaldization	170
Nothing-Something and Grobalization-Glocalization	172
The Grobalization of Something	172
The Grobalization of Nothing	174
The Glocalization of Nothing	176
The Glocalization of Something	178
The Case for McDonaldization as an Example of the Glocalization of Something	180
The Case for McDonaldization as an Example of the Grobalization of Nothing	182
9 Dealing With McDonaldization: A Practical Guide	187
Creating "Reasonable" Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules	189
Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza di Spagna	191
McLibel Support Group: McDonald's Pyrrhic Victory	191
National Heart Savers Association: McClog the Artery	193
Slow Food: Creating a Place for Traditional, Regional, and High-Quality Food	194
Sprawl-Busters: A "Hit List" of McDonaldized Superstores	197
Local Protests: Not Wanting to Say "Bye-Bye to the Neighborhood"	197
Coping Individually: "Skunk Works," Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds	200
Games, Knitting, and Non-Rationalized Niches	201
A Range of Individual Actions: If All Else Fails, Save the Children	204
Freedom: If You Can't Cope, Can You Escape?	207
Some Concluding Thoughts	209
10 The Starbuckization of Society?	211
Howard Schultz and the Founding of the Starbucks Empire: No More Swill	214
What Has Starbucks Added to, or Removed From, the McDonald's Model?	216
Muting McDonald's Hard Edge	217
It's a Show	219
On Dramaturgy	220
Should the Concept of "Starbuckization" Replace "McDonaldization"?	224
Starbucks and the Principles of McDonaldization	224
The Irrationality of Rationality at Starbucks	225
The "Starbucks Effect"	228
The Convergence "of Starbucks and McDonald's	229
Notes	233
Bibliography	277
Index	283

Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.