Ritzer's Rationalization

In “The McDonaldization of Society”, George Ritzer examines how rationalization is affecting our society. He defines a rational society as “one which emphasizes efficiency, predictability, calculability, substitution of nonhuman for human technology” (372). Rationality is changing every corner of our society from theme parks to surgery to the way we eat. For example, the way we eat and obtain food has changed drastically as a result of rationality. In an effort to increase efficiency, people have gone from home cooked meals to fast food, takeout and TV dinners. This saves them valuable time and money, but at the expense of their health. This is because fast-food restaurants, like McDonald’s (hence McDonaldinization), use the cheapest possible ingredients prepared in the least amount of time resulting in food of the lowest quality. Because of the rationalization of our food industry, many have lost sight of the most basic goal of eating: to obtain nourishment. The focus is instead placed on obtaining the highest quantity of food for the least money.

Rationalization also brings predictability at the expense of variety and creativity. Fast food restaurants and food producers work very hard to maintain consistency in all of their products. Individuals learn to like one specific food, packaged and prepared with such predictability that they will reject other possibilities. Ritzer even claims that theme parks and campgrounds that used to be “highly unpredictable affairs” have become predictable (374).

One way to ensure predictability and increase efficiency is to replace human labor with nonhuman technology. Skilled workers that practiced their individual techniques and knowledge on every meal once prepared food. McDonald’s now employs workers who use procedures where every move they make is planned out and every piece of food receives the exact same treatment. By standardizing every step and minimizing customer interaction with workers, McDonald’s maintains control over its employees and customers.

While rationality may be a good business model, it often has very negative effects on customers as well as the laborers within the system. Rationalization takes away the individuality that makes us human. It also pushes important issues, such as nutrition, to the side in favor of more marketable, but less important, issues, such as size. Because of this, “rational systems are not reasonable systems” (378). Can we really blame this rationalization or is rationalization really the result of some other force that actually causes the problems? Furthermore, can Ritzer really claim that rationalization has an overall negative effect? In his examples he tends to ignore possible benefits, such as feeding people on low budgets. I do agree with Ritzer, however, when he claims that rationalization makes our society uninteresting.

Is rationalization the result of people’s preferences or the economic advantages that make it successful?