The idea of McDonaldization is the idea that society as a whole is becoming more like a fast-food restaurant. That is, it is becoming as efficient as possible and is giving up on the idea of subjective quality in favor of objective quantity. It is trying to turn out as much of a given thing as efficiently as it can, regardless of ideas like quality or diversity in tastes.
How might you see this in your life? Let me suggest two ways in which you have probably encountered McDonaldization in your life. First, you have surely encountered automated processes in various parts of your life. Have you ever been to a store where you checked out your purchases through an automated, self-check system? Have you ever tried to call for customer service only to get an automated voice telling you to press certain numbers on your phone depending on what you want? If so, you were experiencing McDonaldization because one aspect of this trend is the trend toward control of the workforce through the use of machines and lower-skilled workers who do not get to make decisions.
A second way you have probably experienced McDonaldization is in your education. McDonaldization stresses “calculability.” It wants to make sure that we have easy ways of calculating what we are creating so we can “know” how well we are doing. Therefore, we have lots of standardized tests. These tests purport to show how well students are learning, but it is plausible to argue that they do not do a very good job. They do not really measure all the various ways in which students can learn. Instead, they provide us with an easy way to quantify learning, even if we are unable to determine the true quality of that learning.
These are two ways in which you, personally, have probably encountered McDonaldization in your own life.
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