McDonaldization of Society

McDonaldization of society “refers to the increasing presence of the fast food business model in common social institutions,” (Openstax, p. 127). This business model consists of efficiency which is the division of labor, predictability, calculability, and control which is monitoring. McDonaldization makes it hard for smaller businesses to make it. I grew up in Castle Rock and still live there now; one of the big aspects of our town is the outlet mall. Many family-owned stores have opened stores at the outlet mall. I always go into them and usually love them, but a few months later when I want to go back, those stores are gone. This is an example of the McDonaldization of society because stores that are family owned don’t have this business model that’s enforced by a corporate usually. No matter where you go in the country a chain store will be the same due to McDonaldization. McDonaldization takes away diversity, “it has reduced the variety of goods available in the marketplace,” (Openstax, p. 127). This usually forces small businesses to close their doors. Stores that use this business model will always overrule smaller companies.

I believe McDonaldization takes away diversity in our society. An obvious example is fast food restaurants, fast food restaurant chains are the same throughout the country and make up most of the fast food restaurants. There are very few locally-owned fast food restaurants because the chains overtake these restaurants. People in our society will typically choose to go to a restaurant they know when they’re on vacation because it’s familiar. McDonaldization creates familiarity and a sense of security in our society. I cannot deny that I don’t contribute to McDonaldization, for example, when I was in Florida this summer I got Starbucks instead of trying one of the local coffee shops.

I think the long-term effects of McDonaldization is that everything will soon be chains. There will be no diversity left in our country because chains will overrule other businesses. I think we’ll only see chain stores in malls and only see chain restaurants. People will typically go for something they know over something that’s new and unknown. I think another long-term effect will be that people are able to afford more. McDonaldization allows for companies to make items for less and thus charge consumers less.

McDonaldization is very prominent in our society. I think it will become even more prominent in coming years. I think it’ll be interesting to see how much our society changes due to it.