McDonaldization

Conceptual Overview

McDonaldization can be interpreted as the contemporary manifestation of the rationalization process. In the early years of the21st century, the fast food restaurant exemplifies the formal rationality that manifested itself best in the early 20th century in bureaucratic forms of administration analyzed by Max Weber. Constituting one of the core aspects of modernization, rationalization continues to be manifest in the organization of the capitalist market, state, and bureaucracy and in modern science and technology. Its existence in the fast food restaurant illustrates the fact that rationalization has more recently come to be extended into the realm of consumption. There are four dimensions of rationalization (and McDonaldization)—efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. A fifth dimension brought about by increasing rationalization is the irrationality of rationality.

Efficiency involves the search for the optimum method for achieving a given objective. It is employed in McDonald's restaurants to serve food to a large number of people in the most efficient manner possible (the drive-through window is an excellent example). The objective is to maximize efficiency for all concerned, in this case for both restaurant workers and consumers.

Calculability is an emphasis on the quantifiable aspects (rather than the quality) of a product or process. In the case of McDonald's restaurants, the number of units sold, the speed at which the products are produced, the size of portions, low price, and the low cost of production and labor have come to be equated with the quality of the food from the perspective of the customers (similar quantifiable phenomena apply to the workers). For customers, the emphasis is on the quantity of food they get for a small expenditure of money, while for workers, tasks are quantified and the focus is on the pay (albeit low) rather than the quality of the work.

Predictability is the promise that the products and services of McDonald's will be the same from one time to another and all over the world. Although slight variations exist around the world according to local customs, tastes, and overall culture, the menu remains more or less the same in all McDonald's restaurants. The service does not allow for any surprises either. The workers in a McDonald's restaurant behave in predictable ways, follow corporate rules, and largely stick to scripts that control what they say as well as how they say it.

Control through nonhuman technologies is exerted on both the customers and the workers in the world of McDonald's. While customers do not adhere to scripts, they know how to reply to questions from counter people, how to order, and how to pour their own beverages; in other words, how to carry out dining behavior required in a fast food restaurant. The queuing system, the limited options offered by the menus, and the uncomfortable seats all serve to exercise control over customers. As a consequence, these technologies contribute to the overall efficiency of the operation. The employees are also controlled by such nonhuman technologies as automatic french fry machines and computerized cash registers. Beyond control, workers can and will be replaced by automated machines in order to save labor, time spent on [Page 887]production, and ultimately money. All of these technologies permit McDonald's to operate in an efficient, calculable, and predictable way.

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