The McDonaldization of society / George Ritzer.

Previous ed.: 2004.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface Chapter 1: An Introduction to McDonaldization McDonald's as 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: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods Streamlining the Process Simplifying the Product Putting Customers to Work Chapter 4: Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips Emphasizing Quantity Rather Than Quality of Products Reducing Production and Service to Numbers Chapter 5: Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside Creating Predicatable Settings Scripting Interaction With Customers Making Employee Behavior Predictable Creating Predictable Products and Processes Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness Chapter 6: Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots Controlling Employees Controlling Customers Controlling the Process and the Product The Ultimate Examples of Control: Birth and Death? Chapter 7: 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: Even Your Pets Are at Risk Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at "Trough and Brew" Chapter 8: Globalization and McDonaldization: Does It All Amount to ... "Nothing"? Globalization McDonaldization and Grobalization Nothing-Something 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 Chapter 9: 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 10: The Starbuckization of Society? Howard Schultz and the Founding of the Starbucks Empire: No More Swill What Has Starbucks Added to, or Removed From, the McDonald's Model? Should the Concept of "Starbuckization" Replace "McDonaldization"? The "Starbucks Effect" The Convergence of Starbucks and McDonald's Notes Bibliography Index

The fast-food business, most notably McDonalds, 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.