NationStates Jolt Archive

Everything that McDonalds stands for has trickled it's way into other form of business. It's called McDonaldization. It's basically a trend that McDonalds started that follows five basic principals. Efficiency, calculability, predictability, control, and the replacement of humans by non-human technology. Each comes with its benefit and drawbacks. Each of the principals have a tenancy to overlap into other principals so try to keep that in mind.

Efficiency: The quest to minimize effort and maximize profit. One way that companies can do this is to "out source" (AKA FIring a lot of people). Shipping operations over seas. Getting machines to do the work. Getting the costomer to do the work for themselves. Have you ever seen a dish washer working at McDonalds? No, they have disposable containers and people even bus their own tables. If they could find ways of eliminating the cooks and the person who takes your order they would. But wait they already are experimenting wi doing just that. Pretty soon you might be able use a push button interface to place your orders. Ever see those self check out lines in some super markets? Guess who’s job they're trying to eliminate? Do you even get a discount for checking yourself out? NO

Calculability: They know how much everything costs and they know how much of it that they have. God forbid that you give them an extra pickle. There are fast food joints that have you fill up your own drink. It's not because they trust you, it's because time is money and that it would cost them more to have somebody fill up your drink. Your not even supposed to refill your drink, but the cost of stolen drinks is still less than it would cost to have somebody give you the drink. Grocery stores have scanners that auto calculate how much stuff that they have. But never go to one that has a shoppers club. Why? Because they scan what you're buying and they'll sell that information to advertisers and suddenly you get a lot of junk in the mail. What's really great is how stores just used to have sales, not you have to be in the shoppers club to get the sale.

Predictability: You can go to any McDonalds, Mall, Wallmart and any other related store and they'll all pretty much look the same to any other. They'll all cary the same basic stuff. Sure there will be some regional differences, but not much. A benefit is that you know exactly what you're getting. A drawback is that they have a tendency to drive local business out of business and reduce regional differences.

Control and replacing humans with technology: Control really has a lot to do with replacing humans with technology so I'll just group here as well. Humans make mistakes more often than machines do. They steal, they break things, need to take breaks, can have bad attitudes. Machines only need to be fixed when broken. You ever call a place up and get a machine that asks you to press numbers? Of course, most of us probably have. The really great thing is that sometimes they give the line "for your convenience..." If it were truly for my convenience, THERE WOULD BE A PERSON ON THE OTHER END. No, it's for their convenience, it's for their pockets. Their convenience is our inconvenience. The greatest thing lost, other than jobs, is the loss of human interaction.

This system is slowly getting stronger and stronger, and is effecting the rest of the world. Many things are lost due to this system, but that appears negligible compared to the benefits. Note that I said appears, because the costs are much greater than most people see. People used to think that cell phones would allow them to get their work done faster and have more leisure time, but no it gives them more work even during their leisure time.

*Needs to think of a good name for an anti McDonaldization yet still capitalist movement*
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Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

That's good. ^_^

It's amazing what you can learn in sociology class. I really should be working on a paper though (Midterm essays for that very class of unrelated discussion). I was planing on posting this after I finished the paper but after reading someone’s post in another topic I felt inclined to give my two cents. At first I was planning on posting in that topic, but then it just got so big I decided to start another.
___________________________
Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

I mostly eat fast food on breaks at work. There's a Burger King and a Papa Gino's (pizza chain around Boston) nearby. Cheap n' fast.

Otherwise, I'd not have fast food so much. Rare occasions and road trips.

If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

I mostly eat fast food on breaks at work. There's a Burger King and a Papa Gino's (pizza chain around Boston) nearby. Cheap n' fast.

Otherwise, I'd not have fast food so much. Rare occasions and road trips.
For those who work, or live at a mall than that does not apply. For road trips I can see to raising the number a bit, but not by much.
___________________________
Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed[/quote]

Hey, thats good. Never thought about it like that before.

someone's read their fast food nation

someone's read their fast food nation
One of the four books I'm required to read for Sociology this semester.

I have a friend from school, a journalist, who wrote a book about McDonald's being a trendsetter in urban architecture!

Think about it: Don't more and more banks and even funeral parlors look like mcDonald's? :shock:

someone's read their fast food nation
One of the four books I'm required to read for Sociology this semester.

That's an awesome class, what other books
I'm currently reading that book for fun
IF you wanna read a similar book that explains the advertising industry and globalization, read Naomi Klein's "No Logo." This is easily the best book i have ever read, it's the "manufacting consent" for the anti globalization movement

That's why I don't like capitalism and many forms of advanced technology. They dehumanize us.

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"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

Well, they all work. Replacing non-humans with human technologies work because they create efficiency in a company. Outsourcing I also believe in. For one, outsourcing is done differently than twenty years ago, when the industrial behemoth of America fell. It was a transfer of power to foreign entities. Now, at least outsourcing is still mostly under US control.
I've actually heard of a study from the Information Technology Association of America. It says that outsourcing actually created 93,000 jobs in the past year. This is because products arrive to the US cheaper, and more jobs can be created that way, especially with a renewed eagerness for Americans to keep their jobs. The IT industry should know: ten years ago, it was considered a crying shame that the production of semiconductors, chips, and modems went overseas. That lead to Americans trying to develope more technologies to rival them, resulting in the great tech boom. It also made the service economy cheaper.

Predictability is also an asset. Customers like familiarity, and that's why they don't stop at a local grocery store while traveling. They stop at a Wal-Mart.

David Halberstam's The Fifties
Paul A. Cantor's Gilligan Unbound
Thomas Hine's I Want That

And one that I forgot about

Arthus Asa Berger's Ads, Fads, and Consumer Culture
The last three actually aren't required. Only Fast Food Nation and the Fifties were required.
The professor sort of reminds me of a cross between comedian Lewis Black and actor Wallace Shawn
___________________________
Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

Well, they all work. Replacing non-humans with human technologies work because they create efficiency in a company. Outsourcing I also believe in. For one, outsourcing is done differently than twenty years ago, when the industrial behemoth of America fell. It was a transfer of power to foreign entities. Now, at least outsourcing is still mostly under US control.
I've actually heard of a study from the Information Technology Association of America. It says that outsourcing actually created 93,000 jobs in the past year. This is because products arrive to the US cheaper, and more jobs can be created that way, especially with a renewed eagerness for Americans to keep their jobs. The IT industry should know: ten years ago, it was considered a crying shame that the production of semiconductors, chips, and modems went overseas. That lead to Americans trying to develope more technologies to rival them, resulting in the great tech boom. It also made the service economy cheaper.

Predictability is also an asset. Customers like familiarity, and that's why they don't stop at a local grocery store while traveling. They stop at a Wal-Mart.One thing that outsourcing is doing is taking away from the lower skilled job market. Sure the higher skilled market is increasing, but there are still many unskilled workers that can't quite find steady jobs. Then Bush goes ahead and lets even more unskilled workers into the country. Go figure :?
___________________________
Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

Mcdonaldization ?
a poison i say !
they need to shut down all mcdondalds.
but theres a bigger problem.....
walmart !
walmartization,walmart kills communities,offering more good for lowers prices,putting the local shops out of buisness,and they have ties with the government ! the new 20 (dollar bills) were introduced in walmarts....coincidence ? i doubt it.

For whoever said that there are no dishwashers at mcdonalds you've never done two hours of never ending dishes there. I work there, and yes there are dishes, many of them, they just never end. But I guess it's easy for you to criticize mcdonald's, you've never worked there to subsidize income in your family right?

And I don't quite understand this whole "getting rid of humans" thing. At least McDonald's Canada has something called, Hospitality Shifts where you get an shift and your job is to interact with customers. Get them refills, play with kids in play place, talk to them. If that's getting rid of the human aspect...then I'm confused.

We live in a capitalist society (north america) if you don't like it why not move to a non-capitalist nation and see if you like it. They tend not to give many democratic rights either.

I guess it's hard to ask those who have been brainwashed into left wing commie nuts to understand the benefit corporations bring to a country. Who do you think pays for social programs? Strong economies make a nation better. And for those of you who are against Bush all I have to say is
FOUR MORE YEARS

If I was eligible I'd vote Bush, but I live in Canada so I vote Conservative, which is similar to Republican, not that any of you Americans would know that with your heads so involved in your own business you probably don't know anything about your northern neighbour, biggest trading partner Canada.

Oh, and I am not brainwashed, I eat McDonald's more than 25 times a year. I had it tonight for dinner in fact. I think for myself. I didn't just accept Reitzer's McDonaldization theory when I heard it, I questioned it.

Anyway, that'y my 2 cents. Remember, at McDonalds the SMILES are always free, and even though I'm not at work have one anyway :)

I've actually heard of a study from the Information Technology Association of America. It says that outsourcing actually created 93,000 jobs in the past year. This is because products arrive to the US cheaper, and more jobs can be created that way, especially with a renewed eagerness for Americans to keep their jobs. The IT industry should know: ten years ago, it was considered a crying shame that the production of semiconductors, chips, and modems went overseas. That lead to Americans trying to develope more technologies to rival them, resulting in the great tech boom. It also made the service economy cheaper.


Said study does not breakdown what the IT jobs were? Even then it still about 1/4(I think) of the jobs lost.

Also, that org seems to be made up of CIOs, etc. so exporting is a good thing for them. ;)

Also, semiconductors, etc all, is manufactoring ;)

If the IT work goes overseas, what is to replace the work? So far what I have seen for people I know: Starbucks, Walmart, Hollywood video :(

My concern is that I am reading about the noticiable Decrease in the computer science enrollments. Even ol Bill Gates is getting involved in that :shock:

I would really appricate somebody pointing out the "New Jobs" that are going to be created. I am kind of tired of that phrase ;)

For whoever said that there are no dishwashers at mcdonalds you've never done two hours of never ending dishes there. I work there, and yes there are dishes, many of them, they just never end. But I guess it's easy for you to criticize mcdonald's, you've never worked there to subsidize income in your family right?

And I don't quite understand this whole "getting rid of humans" thing. At least McDonald's Canada has something called, Hospitality Shifts where you get an shift and your job is to interact with customers. Get them refills, play with kids in play place, talk to them. If that's getting rid of the human aspect...then I'm confused.

We live in a capitalist society (north america) if you don't like it why not move to a non-capitalist nation and see if you like it. They tend not to give many democratic rights either.

I guess it's hard to ask those who have been brainwashed into left wing commie nuts to understand the benefit corporations bring to a country. Who do you think pays for social programs? Strong economies make a nation better. And for those of you who are against Bush all I have to say is
FOUR MORE YEARS

If I was eligible I'd vote Bush, but I live in Canada so I vote Conservative, which is similar to Republican, not that any of you Americans would know that with your heads so involved in your own business you probably don't know anything about your northern neighbour, biggest trading partner Canada.

Oh, and I am not brainwashed, I eat McDonald's more than 25 times a year. I had it tonight for dinner in fact. I think for myself. I didn't just accept Reitzer's McDonaldization theory when I heard it, I questioned it.

Anyway, that'y my 2 cents. Remember, at McDonalds the SMILES are always free, and even though I'm not at work have one anyway :)
I believe I already mentioned that there will be some regional differences. There are some McDonalds that sell lobster. I even heard that there's a McDonalds that actually has waitresses. The dishes I was referring to weren't the ones used for cooking, of course they'll need washed. But that will typically be done at the end of the day wouldn't it? Everything else is disposable so they wouldn't need to wash dishes during the day, except maybe the trays.

The brainwashed bit is because the food there sucks. They’ve traded quality for quantity, and sadly they’re getting more popular.

I've already said that I wasn't anti capitolist, I just don't want everything to be run like McDonalds.
___________________________
Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed

Bumpenstein

Well, they all work. Replacing non-humans with human technologies work because they create efficiency in a company. Outsourcing I also believe in. For one, outsourcing is done differently than twenty years ago, when the industrial behemoth of America fell. It was a transfer of power to foreign entities. Now, at least outsourcing is still mostly under US control.
I've actually heard of a study from the Information Technology Association of America. It says that outsourcing actually created 93,000 jobs in the past year. This is because products arrive to the US cheaper, and more jobs can be created that way, especially with a renewed eagerness for Americans to keep their jobs. The IT industry should know: ten years ago, it was considered a crying shame that the production of semiconductors, chips, and modems went overseas. That lead to Americans trying to develope more technologies to rival them, resulting in the great tech boom. It also made the service economy cheaper.

Predictability is also an asset. Customers like familiarity, and that's why they don't stop at a local grocery store while traveling. They stop at a Wal-Mart.One thing that outsourcing is doing is taking away from the lower skilled job market. Sure the higher skilled market is increasing, but there are still many unskilled workers that can't quite find steady jobs. Then Bush goes ahead and lets even more unskilled workers into the country. Go figure :?
___________________________
Which once again proves my theory, “Life’s a Bitch”
If you eat fast food more than 25 times per year, consider yourself legally brainwashed
Not the entire lower job skill market. There are quite a few jobs that need only some light training, and have good money in them. Welding, electricians, and plumbing require the equivilant of a year's schooling, but it ain't expensive to train. What my point is that there's always gonna be jobs for everyone. But the important thing to remember is that this new economy requires flexibility for low skill workers. They'll eventually have to go, as these services are being preformed by humans less and less. But it'll be gradual enough for the flexible to adjust.

I've actually heard of a study from the Information Technology Association of America. It says that outsourcing actually created 93,000 jobs in the past year. This is because products arrive to the US cheaper, and more jobs can be created that way, especially with a renewed eagerness for Americans to keep their jobs. The IT industry should know: ten years ago, it was considered a crying shame that the production of semiconductors, chips, and modems went overseas. That lead to Americans trying to develope more technologies to rival them, resulting in the great tech boom. It also made the service economy cheaper.


Said study does not breakdown what the IT jobs were? Even then it still about 1/4(I think) of the jobs lost.

Also, that org seems to be made up of CIOs, etc. so exporting is a good thing for them. ;)

Also, semiconductors, etc all, is manufactoring ;)

If the IT work goes overseas, what is to replace the work? So far what I have seen for people I know: Starbucks, Walmart, Hollywood video :(

My concern is that I am reading about the noticiable Decrease in the computer science enrollments. Even ol Bill Gates is getting involved in that :shock:

I would really appricate somebody pointing out the "New Jobs" that are going to be created. I am kind of tired of that phrase ;)
Thirty years ago, IT was just coming into existence. Besides, as many economists say, it'd be impratical for US companies to move all of the jobs out of the US, because such a large creative base exists.

*Needs to think of a good name for an anti McDonaldization yet still capitalist movement*
___________________________
How about "Support Your Local Entrepreneur".

*Needs to think of a good name for an anti McDonaldization yet still capitalist movement*
___________________________
How about "Support Your Local Entrepreneur".
It's happening in some areas, if you think about it. Twenty years ago, the only coffee made was made by Folgers and Maxwellhouse. Now, there's no shortage of coffeehouses, and only about a quarter of them are Starbucks.

Mcdonaldization ?
a poison i say !
they need to shut down all mcdondalds.
but theres a bigger problem.....
walmart !
walmartization,walmart kills communities,offering more good for lowers prices,putting the local shops out of buisness,and they have ties with the government ! the new 20 (dollar bills) were introduced in walmarts....coincidence ? i doubt it.

The local mom & pop type convenience stores here shop at WalMart to stock their stores because they can get better prices than they can 'wholesale' where they can't afford to meet wholesale minimums. Oddly enough, they get better prices at Walmart than at Sams Wholesale Club, which is part of Walmart. They also shop at BigLots which often has lower prices than Walmart.

The secret to surviving mass merchants is to have unique product at a decent price and good service. If you have the same brands, same quality, same service and a higher price, you can't compete. But you can find good suppliers, with quality merchandise at good prices that will allow you to compete. Combine that with the right customer service and you succeed.

I don't see any point in all the chain restaurants from a consumer viewpoint. They all have the same menu just about. Fast food or Chilis/Benigans/etc. It's like one restaurant with 14 names.

McDonaldization = Globalization in practice.

That's why I don't like capitalism and many forms of advanced technology. They dehumanize us.

-----------------------------------------
"But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality."
Free your mind! (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html)
I like big butts!

http://www.angelfire.com/mo3/terrapvlchra/images/steatopygia.jpg

You complain that technology dehumanises us (whatever the hell that means) yet you write this on an internet forum via your computer and telecommunication line, all of which are powered by electricity. You probably complain that people have to work more than they should yet when someone invents a new piece of technology to save time you complain about that as well. If you're still an anarchist by the the time you're 30 then you're an idiot.

Some stores will refuse to sell certain items. For instance Walmart refuses to sell the morning after pill. They also will only sell censored versions of certain CDs. Others they simply will not sell, along with certain books and movies. If there is no other store around and you only have limited transportation funds, then you might be SOL.
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Out of all the demons in this world, none is more frightening than man

It's like one restaurant with 14 names.

Most likely, it almost literally is. Many supposedly "competing" companies have the exact same parent corporation. For example, Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy are really the same line. I wouldn't be all that surprised if McDonalds and Burger King are the same too, even as much as they ostensibly squabble and fight. Baja Fresh was bought by Wendy's a while ago.

McDonald's and BK really do hate each other; see how the first sells Coke and the second Pepsi?

But BK is owned (or was) by the same parent company as Pizza Hut and Long John Silver's.