George Ritzer

Bio: George Ritzer is an academic researcher from University of Maryland, College Park. The author has contributed to research in topics: McDonaldization & Sociological theory. The author has an hindex of 59, co-authored 193 publications receiving 18519 citations. Previous affiliations of George Ritzer include University of Maryland, Baltimore & Tulane University.

The McDonaldization of Society

Abstract: Chapter 1: An Introduction to McDonaldization McDonald's as an American and a Global Icon The Long Arm of McDonaldization The Dimensions of McDonaldization Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality Illustrating the Dimensions of McDonaldization: The Case of Ikea The Advantages of McDonaldization What Isn't McDonaldized? A Look Ahead Chapter 2: The Past, Present, and Future of McDonaldization: From the Iron Cage to the Fast-Food Factory and Beyond Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational The Holocaust: Mass-Produced Death Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way The Assembly Line: Turning Workers Into Robots Levittown: Putting Up Houses? Boom, Boom, Boom? Shopping Centers: Malling America McDonald's: Creating the "Fast-Food Factory" McDonaldization and Contemporary Social Changes Chapter 3: Efficiency and Calculability Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods Streamlining the Process Simplifying the Product Putting Customers to Work Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips Emphasizing Quantity Rather Than Quality of Products Reducing Production and Service to Numbers Chapter 4: Predictability and Control Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside Creating Predictable Settings Scripting Interaction With Customers Making Employee Behavior Predictable Creating Predictable Products and Processes Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots Controlling Employees Controlling Customers Controlling the Process and the Product The Ultimate Examples of Control: Birth and Death? Chapter 5: The Irrationality of Rationality: Traffic Jams on Those "Happy Trails" Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout High Cost: Better Off at Home False Friendliness: "Hi, George" Disenchantment: Where's the Magic? Health and Environmental Hazards: A Day's Calories in One Fast Food Meal Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at "Trough and Brew" Chapter 6: Dealing with McDonaldization: A Practical Guide Creating "Reasonable" Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza Di Spagna Coping Individually: "Skunk Works," Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds Some Concluding Thoughts Chapter 7: Globalization and the Possibility of the DeMcDonaldization of Society? Globalization and McDonaldization The DeMcDonaldization of Society The Internet and DeMcDonaldization Bibliography Notes Index

Production, Consumption, Prosumption The nature of capitalism in the age of the digital ‘prosumer’

Abstract: This article deals with the rise of prosumer capitalism. Prosumption involves both production and consumption rather than focusing on either one (production) or the other (consumption). It is maintained that earlier forms of capitalism (producer and consumer capitalism) were themselves characterized by prosumption. Given the recent explosion of user-generated content online, we have reason to see prosumption as increasingly central. In prosumer capitalism, control and exploitation take on a different character than in the other forms of capitalism: there is a trend toward unpaid rather than paid labor and toward offering products at no cost, and the system is marked by a new abundance where scarcity once predominated. These trends suggest the possibility of a new, prosumer, capitalism.

The McDonaldization of Society

Abstract: Preface 1. An Introduction to McDonaldization McDonalds as a Global Icon The Long Arm of McDonaldization The Dimensions of McDonaldization The Advantages of McDonaldization A Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality What Isn't McDonaldized McDonald's Troubles: Implications for McDonaldization A Look Ahead 2. McDonaldization and Its Precursors: From the Iron Cage to the Fast-Food Industry Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational The Holocaust: Mass-Produced Death Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way The Assembly Line: Turning Workers Into Robots Levittown: Putting Up Houses - "Boom, Boom, Boom" Shopping Centers: Malling America McDonald's: Creating the "Fast-Food Factory" Conclusion 3. Efficiency: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods Streamlining the Process Simplifying the Product Putting Customers to Work Conclusion 4. Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips Emphasizing Quantity Rather Than Quality of Products Giving the Illusion of Quantity Reducing Production and Service to Number Conclusion 5. Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside Creating Predictable Settings Scripting Ineraction With Customers Making Employee Behavior Predictable Creating Predictable Products and Processes Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness Conclusion 6. Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots Controlling Employees Controlling Customers Controlling the Process and the Product The Ultimate Experience of Control? Birth and Death Conclusion 7. The Irrationality of Rationality: Traffic Jams on Those "Happy Trails" Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout High Cost: Better Off at Home The Illusion of Fun: Ha, Ha, the Stock Market Just Crashed The Illusion of Reality: Even the "Singers" Aren't Real False Friendliness: "Hi, George" Disenchantment: Where's the Magic Health and Environmental Hazards: Even Your Pets Are at Risk Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at "Trough and Brew" Conclusion 8. Globalization and McDonaldization: Does It All Amount to... Nothing? Globalization McDonaldization and Grobalization Nothing-Somthing and McDonaldization Nothing-Something and Grobalization-Glocalization The Case for McDonaldization as an Example of the Glocalization of Something The Case for McDonaldization as an Example of the Grobalization of Nothing Conclusion 9. McDonaldization in a Changing World: Are There Any Limits? The Forces Driving McDonaldization: It Pays, We Value It, It Fits Other Major Social Changes: McDonaldization in the Era of the "Posts" Are There Any Limits to the Expansion of McDonaldization? Looking to the Future: De-McDonaldization? Conclusion 10. Dealing With McDonaldization: A Practical Guide Creating "Reasonable" Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza di Spagna Coping Individually: " Skunk Works," Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds Conclusion Index About the Author

The McDonaldization of society : an investigation into the changing character of contemporary social life

Abstract: The fast-food business, most notably Mcdonal ds, revolutionised not only the restaurant business but also American society and ultimately, the world. Using the model of Mcdonalds, the author draws on the theories of Weber to produce a social critique. '

The Sociology of the Professions Dead or Alive

Abstract: In 1983 Richard Hall viewed the sociological study of the professions as near death. However, had Hall examined the recent British literature he would have come to a very different conclusion. Our survey shows that this is a very active area of research and theorizing and that there are important lessons in it for American students of the professions. First, unlike the American literature, work in Britain has not been dominated by fruitless efforts to find the characteristics that differentiate professions from other occupations. Second, the British literature contains four distinctive characteristics that differentiate it from the American literature. They are a focus on inter- and intraprofessional conflicts, the relationship between the professions and the polity, the link between the professions and social stratification, and theoretical roots in the classic ideas of observers such as Marx and Weber. Third, the realities examined in the British literature lead us to conclude that the professions will ...

The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment to the organization

Abstract: Organizational commitment has been conceptualized and measured in various ways. The two studies reported here were conducted to test aspects of a three-component model of commitment which integrates these various conceptualizations. The affective component of organizational commitment, proposed by the model, refers to employees' emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in, the organization. The continuance component refers to commitment based on the costs that employees associate with leaving the organization. Finally, the normative component refers to employees' feelings of obligation to remain with the organization. In Study 1, scales were developed to measure these components. Relationships among the components of commitment and with variables considered their antecedents were examined in Study 2. Results of a canonical correlation analysis suggested that, as predicted by the model, the affective and continuance components of organizational commitment are empirically distinguishable constructs with different correlates. The affective and normative components, although distinguishable, appear to be somewhat related. The importance of differentiating the components of commitment, both in research and practice, is discussed.

Culture in action: symbols and strategies*

Abstract: Culture influences action not by providing the ultimate values toward which action is oriented, but by shaping a repertoire or "tool kit" of habits, skills, and styles from which people construct "strategies of action." Two models of cultural influence are developed, for settled and unsettled cultural periods. In settled periods, culture independently influences action, but only by providing resources from which people can construct diverse lines of action. In unsettled cultural periods, explicit ideologies directly govern action, but structural opportunities for action determine which among competing ideologies survive in the long run. This alternative view of culture offers new opportunities for systematic, differentiated arguments about culture's causal role in shaping action. The reigning model used to understand culture's effects on action is fundamentally misleading. It assumes that culture shapes action by supplying ultimate ends or values toward which action is directed, thus making values the central causal element of culture. This paper analyzes the conceptual difficulties into which this traditional view of culture leads and offers an alternative model. Among sociologists and anthropologists, debate has raged for several academic generations over defining the term "culture." Since the seminal work of Clifford Geertz (1973a), the older definition of culture as the entire way of life of a people, including their technology and material artifacts, or that (associated with the name of Ward Goodenough) as everything one would need to know to become a functioning member of a society, have been displaced in favor of defining culture as the publicly available symbolic forms through which people experience and express meaning (see Keesing, 1974). For purposes of this paper, culture consists of such symbolic vehicles of meaning, including beliefs, ritual practices, art forms, and ceremonies, as well as informal cultural practices such as language, gossip, stories, and rituals of daily life. These symbolic forms are the means through which "social processes of sharing modes of behavior and outlook within [a] community" (Hannerz, 1969:184) take place.