This is another posting to the discussion board of my sociology class. It deals with the McDonaldization of Society - the idea that sameness is everywhere.

The “McDonaldization” of society is becoming an increasing fixture of life in the United States and other western countries. This thesis, espoused by George Ritzer, is one application of the bureaucratic thesis that Max Weber did extensive research on.

Bureaucracies are a formal organization whereby secondary groups are organized to increase their efficiency particularly by specialization. Weber’s view of bureaucracies encompassed his view of rationalization of the world, where the worldview is changing from one based on tradition to one that is based on rationality taking in the most efficient way of getting a task or tasks accomplished.

Many bureaucracies increased their efficiency by the use of scientific management where managers would study workers in their tasks, analyze the results and propose to the worker the preferred way of doing a task, then rewarding the employee when efficiency increases. This principle is at it most successful use when we discuss the “McDonaldization” of society.

The “McDonaldization” of society refers to the model that Ray Kroc used in the extremely successful McDonalds chain restaurant where everything is strictly controlled in order to increase productivity and control costs. This is a rational process in that the application of scientific management principles trumps that of tradition. Every step of every task and product is made to a set standard; there is no variation in any facet of their model, down to the size of a single French fry. Every job in this method has a strict sequence of steps in order to increase the efficiency of the entire organization. Every product is uniform in size, appearance, how long it is cooked and delivery. One can expect to have the same menu item available to them in the exact same way no matter where they encounter the organization.

This organizational method is everywhere in our society. It is found from the most mundane of tasks to the most complicated of tasks. Many organizations have successfully adopted this model in order to increase their profits. One can think of the modern fast food restaurant as that of the traditional assembly line – each worker has a set task, they do this task all day, every day, at the same frequency and the same results can be expected day in and day out. This is a dehumanizing process because it leaves no room for creativity or variation in routine. In this way, it is exactly like the traditional assembly line, the worker has no control of the process, and they basically do the same task day in and day out with no thought or creative input.

Is “McDonaldization” a negative world view? There are times when it can be a very helpful application of a process; one will expect the same exact product or process wherever they can find a local outlet of the organization. Those who enjoy StarBucks tend to enjoy the type of coffee they can get; they can get this same type of coffee anywhere they encounter a StarBucks. When one shops at a Wal-Mart store, they can expect to find the layout of the store almost exactly like that of any other Wal-Mart they find themselves at. These two instances can be beneficial because human nature is resistant to change. One can do their shopping as efficiently on vacation as they did at home. One can find the same cup of coffee while on a business trip that they have every day on the way to work. People find comfort in this sameness. Where “McDonaldization” is bad is where it squashes human drive and human aspirations. Sure, McDonalds provides employment to many people, as does Wal-Mart, but generally these jobs are low paying, entry level, and they provide little if any benefits. Wal-Mart has been able to maximize its profits and lower its costs by casting its employees off to get their medical care at the expense of the public by way of the government. Companies used to have a “social compact” with their employees; they would provide a living wage and essential benefits and services to their employees and the employees in turn would have loyalty to the company and do all they can to see to the success of the company. By lowering its prices and the substantial part of their workforce being part-time and transitory, Wal-Mart is forcing the many families into poverty, especially if an unforeseen medical bill should appear.

“McDonaldization” is an application of management principles that has been wildly successful. More companies see their organizations adopt this model every year. It already is the dominant management philosophy in the US, it is only a matter of time until the majority of the world population will see it for what it really is – a complete moral abandonment of the well-being of each individual for the maximizing of the goals of the company.

This is another posting to the discussion board of my sociology class.

There is much diversity of opinion in the argument of nature vs. nurture. It was not until early in the last century that the argument that not all of our behaviours and/or traits are biologically derived. It was James Watson who came up with the theory of behaviourism, which its main tenet is that “behaviour is not instinctive, but learned”. It seems almost foreign to us in this modern era to hear that scientists used to hold that all of our behaviours could be attributed to biology.

There have been many instances of children in social isolation that had not developed to the extent that other children of their own age are. This is a profound argument for the nurture debate. Much of what makes a person who and what they are is how they interact with others. If one was to be removed from oppourtunities for interactions with others, they are generally left in a profound state of disadvantage. This is illustrated by the case of Genie, profiled on feralchildren.com that, when found in 1970 was in such an emaciated, mentally challenged state from being strapped to her potty chair during the day and locked in a small room at night. She had no oppourtunity for physical contact or any of the other nurturing acts that are necessary for normal development. Another case profiled was that of Isabelle who was in a similar state.

Margaret Harlow did research on Rhesus monkeys, which though they are a lower primate than humans, still are social animals. In her research she found that Rhesus monkeys who were isolated from their peers for less than three months could recover, but those who were isolated for longer than 6 months, had irretrievable damage done to them.

Freud intimated that biology did have a role to play in the development of one’s personality. He described the personality as a conflict between the Id, the biological drives of a person and the ego and superego, which represent items of the personality greater than the individual. Jean Piaget took the position that there are four stages of cognitive development, each one unique and not all necessary in every individual. Kohlberg’s theory was based on moral development, again broken into stages. George H. Mead made a significant contribution to the field in his idea that there are two parts to a person, their “I” and their “me”. The “I” is how one sees themselves, and the “me” is how one feels other sees them. The idea is that if one believes others see them in a certain way, then they may live up to or down to their perceived expectations.

Back to socialization, if one was to have their life progression interrupted at a particular stage, then they could be permanently hindered in their further development. Take for instance Freud’s theory; his theory can be interpreted to show that someone could be deficient in a certain aspect of their development. The text did not go into his stages of the lifespan, but they are useful never-the-less. If one was to experience trauma at a particular stage, say the anal stage (the stage where one learns to control their bodily functions) then that can have ramifications throughout their lives. If one was to experience trauma during the oral stage (when gratification is represented by eating, close nurturing, etc) then they can have deficiencies in their adult lives relating to other people. There are similarities in the other theories that a deficiency of some sort at a particular stage, could be overcome in some instances and in others, the individual will never progress, such as the instances of confined/isolated children. We know that infancy is when the individual’s brain is acquiring knowledge, building memories, thoughts, reactions to experiences and learning to relate with others. In extreme cases of isolation, when one is isolated at infancy and further, sometimes the damage in irreversible. There are cases where children are physically affected by the lack of parental nurturing; this is called failure to thrive. These children are usually extremely small, certainly developmentally disabled and sometimes this damage is irreversible.

Again back to socialization; there are certain circumstances where socialization does occur, but is lacking in diversity of experience or exposure. A good example of this is home schooled children. I know that this will offend some people, but I have first hand experience observing this. Many, not all, home schooled children are sorely lacking in socialization skills. They only know how to relate to individuals in their own family sphere or that of a very small community. Sometimes, teenagers will have no meaningful relations with others in their own age group so they may be socially disadvantaged, particularly later in life when an upbringing of exposures to diverse situations could have prepared them to relate to those different than they.

Another example is children who go to a school that may be made up largely of one racial group or social class. That was the argument behind bussing to integrate schools. Many times later in life these individuals are disadvantaged in that yet again they do not have the skills necessary to relate or even communicate with others of different backgrounds.

In the discussion of resocialization, the text failed to mention the usually forced altering of social reality experienced by those in the military. It is particularly evident when individuals go to boot camp. There they are demeaned, humiliated, and left without a personal identity in many cases. They are resocialized into accepting that they are part of a group and that obedience to the group or command structure is more important than their own goals or even well-being, sometimes to the point that performing torture on another person is acceptable to them.

In my own upbringing, I was fortunate enough to have been raised in an intact family of upper middle class means. I also was fortunate enough to go to public schools where there was a wide range of people; both African American and whites were just about equally represented and there also were people of varying economic backgrounds, from welfare children to children of fairly successful families. I was given the option of attending the catholic school in my community, but after my own research, I concluded that the education was actually better at the public school with more advanced placement courses as well as the benefit of a diverse student body. All of my experiences to this day make me the individual that I am.