Summary
Contents
Subject index
George Ritzer's McDonaldization thesis argued that contemporary life is succumbing to the standardization, flexibility and practicability of fast-food service. This book brings together specially commissioned papers by leading social and cultural analysts to engage in a critical appraisal of the thesis. The contributors discuss the roots of the thesis, the rationalization of late modern life, the effects of increasing cultural commodification, the continuing prominence of American cultural and economic imperialism and the impact of globalization on social and cultural life. The strengths and weaknesses of the McDonaldization thesis are clearly evaluated and the irrational consequences of rationalization are pinpointed and critically
Theme Parks and McDonaldization
Theme Parks and McDonaldization
Although Ritzer (1993) had little to say about the inroads McDonaldization was making into theme parks, it is clear from a few references to them in his book that he regarded them as fully implicated in its inexorable advance. More recently, he has written specifically on McDonaldization in relation to tourism, coining in the process the notion of ‘McDisneyization’, and from this discussion it is clear that he regards them as exemplifications of its characteristics (Ritzer, 1998). In the following discussion, I examine the suggestion that theme parks, and Disney ones in particular, exemplify McDonaldization, thereby allowing me to amplify my discussion elsewhere of the ‘McDisney’ theme park (Bryman, 1995).
The links between McDonaldization and Weber's theory of rationalization ...
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