User:Ryan Hurley/sya4010

When one often hears the word, “McDonalds”, a man with a white painted face and over exaggerated red smile comes to mind. A child’s familiarity with the golden arc and happy meals always leaves a happy face. However, the term McDonaldization is slightly different. This term was originated by George Ritzer in his book “The McDonaldization of Society”. Ritzer explains his theory of this process, and how society today is being controlled and inheriting the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant- just like McDonalds. It is the concept of moving from our traditional to rational thought process. Ritzer categorizes McDonaldization into four primary components: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. These characteristics refer to stores like Wal-Mart and Target. The development of big retail stores are being blamed for erasing cultural differences between geographic areas by homogenizing retail activities. In particular, Wal-Mart carries every item from vegetables and ice cream to sweat shirts and digital cameras. It is literally a one stop shop. The prices are cheaper than any other food market or sport shop. Because the chains buy large quantities of these items, they are able to lower the prices and attract more customers. This particular type of retail is putting small owned businesses out of business. With the decrease in these particular retail stores and the support of the community, it is then possible to have the economic and productive benefits of organizational rationalization without the homogenization of culture. “Mom and Pop” stores will be able to survive the fight and keep their businesses open. With the elimination of these stores, the communities are able to keep cultural diversity alive. McDonaldization is the process of making a task easier to complete. McDonaldization takes a task and breaks it down into smaller tasks. In order to resist the trend in the future, communities must stick together and help one another out. Although it may be tempting to run to the nearest Wal-Mart and pick up food, balloons and a bathing suit- my advice would be to weigh out the options. Is your convenience and savings of $5.00 really worth jeopardizing the cultural diversity in your own neighborhood? Would you be willing to plead guilty to other’s unemployment? I feel that McDonaldization is an extremely selfish process and I would advise others to think twice before giving in. McDonald’s is known for its unchanging image. The image consists of the giant golden “M” that welcomes all to its door, or the friendly Ronald McDonald standing or sitting in the entrance making you feel right at home the moment you walk in. These are all images and feelings we get when we go to a McDonald’s. It has become a part of our American culture; something we associate ourselves to have and something visitors to our country expect to see and experience when they come. That is a basis as to why McDonald’s has become the kind of corporation it has become today. McDonald’s has extended its branches and migrated all over the world. Would it really have been as successful as it is if it wasn’t what we expected? I do not think it would have been possible to have the economic and productive benefits of organizational rationalization without the homogenization of culture. If in every country McDonald’s looked differently or served different foods then that wouldn’t be the same restaurant. It would be a different restaurant in every country. Every country and culture has their own way of doing things, foods, tastes and styles. If a food corporation wanted to make a restaurant that fit into the exact mold of every country then they would have to come up with 80 different kinds of restaurants, menus, decorating styles and service. No company, no matter how big, has the time, man power, or money to involve them in such a complicated process. The restaurants would not have the chance to become as efficient and organized as opposed to lets say one style of restaurant that is the same everywhere. That’s what McDonald’s is; the complete image and ideal of a fine working operation that moves smoothly, can get the job done good and right, and allows for everyone no matter what age, sex, religion, or culture to enjoy it’s food and atmosphere. Such a style of restaurant needs to become homogeneous in order to ensure that every ideal of what a fast food restaurant should be gets conveyed and so that everyone can enjoy it. Even though McDonald’s has been able to survive and make its mark in the world, does not mean that everyone has been able to accomplish that. There are communities that reject the idea of conformity or have been reluctant to let an unknown culture in. One way a community can keep themselves blocked from this homogenous activity is to stay united and not let anyone else into their territory. For example, China Town is a community predominately made up of individuals who are Chinese or of Asian background. Chinatown does not have any McDonald’s in its neighborhoods. There may be one on the outside for those who wish to go and eat; but in the grand scheme of things there are none on the inside. This is because this culture wanted to keep their foods and traditions alive without having to completely conform to the American way of life; as is the same for other communities as Little Italy and Little Havana. They do not want to fully integrate and allow such domination over their community to exist. The answer to this question lies in the answer to more important questions; Do American's suffer from Wal-Mart being in business? How much do American's gain from Wal-Mart being in business? To answer the first question, the only thing that may be construed as harm to American's would be that we have to worry about Wal-Mart putting small businesses under. However, I don't see this is as harmful because I believe that it should make the American companies work harder to produce better products at cheaper prices. The American people deserve the right to receive the best deals on the best products and Wal-Mart's ability to provide both is a service, no matter how many small businesses must suffer. The second question can be answered in two words; LOW PRICES! Everyone has the ability to spend whatever they want on the products they buy and we buy Wal-Mart. The convenience of being able to shop at one place for everything you need is the best thing to happen for Americans. Wal-Mart annually employs millions of people worldwide and, now that cities are catching on to the Wal-Mart salary practices, these employees will be paid quite handsomely. Then, to top it all off, they have started offering prescription drugs for just four dollars! So now many people who were unable to get medication for their ailments will now be able to get well for a cheaper price. How can this be a bad thing? Wal-Mart will continue to lead the retailers market for many years to come because it simply has no competition. Wal-Mart works not only for poor college students, the working middle class and now even the elderly, it works for everyone. The global marketplace is much more competitive and the global economy looks better simply by Wal-Mart's ability to offer lower prices to everyone. Wal-Mart perfectly exemplifies why capitalism is out of control. Although, they have a unique tactic to engage the American people someone eventually pays for the bargains though it may not necessarily be the consumer. Not only do they sell practically any product you can think of, but they sell it at pretty much the cheapest price you can find it. Of course, it seems counterintuitive to really complain about a store that offers you almost any product you could need for the lowest price. Yet, people are only seeing what is on the surface and not what is going on behind the scenes. True, Wal-Mart provides many jobs, yet most people do not know that many of these jobs are outsourced. Since Wal-Mart is the leading importer of consumer goods they practically have full control of where most consumer goods are produced. Consequentially, companies like Wal-Mart outsource jobs in order to find the biggest bargains so it can support its low prices. Thus, over the past few decades countries in Asia have been making a fortune and expanding their economies thanks to U.S. outsourcing. What does this all really mean? On one hand, middle to lower class people have benefited from Wal-Mart with its production of inexpensive consumer goods. Conversely, companies like Wal-Mart are only destroying our economy piece by piece behind the scenes. We cannot sacrifice our country’s future for a few years of bargains when we could possibly create a monster by basically supporting the expansion of Asian economies. We cannot lose our economic independence and run the risk of becoming reliant upon other countries to produce our own goods, yet Wal-Mart promotes exactly this and if people continue to support it as much as they do we are only in line for our economic downfall. As a little kid, it was a rare occasion to go to McDonalds for greatly sought after “happy meal.” The atmosphere with all the characters all smiling and happy, the actual name happy meal plus the mazes of tunnels, balls, and jungle gyms all made McDonalds a child’s paradise. Not only child friendly, McDonalds provides quick predictable service for all people. This may seem like the ultimate solution for happy customers and a large profit but McDonaldization, a phrase coined by George Ritzer, is extremely detrimental towards small businesses and old cultures. McDonaldization contributes to “a situation in which rationality takes over, leaving no room for the mysterious, unpredictable qualities that make us human.” These corporations are centered on efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through technology; using machines instead of people and leaving no room for creativity or new ideas. It would be very hard to be able to have the economic and productive benefits corporations like McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Target offer without ruining quaint mom and popshops, which add to the individualistic feel of many cultures. If there were no McDonald’s, people would rely on local restaurants run by families instead of huge chain restaurants where employees are basically “just an extension of the machine.” Communities can resist homogenization of culture by supporting the local mom and pop stores, buying produce and foods from local farmers or vegetable stands. Wal-Mart has everything anyone could need in a home, groceries, clothes, electronics almost anything can be found here, whereas smaller stores and family run businesses are more specialized so people have to be more tolerant of running more errands. To keep cultural diversity people have to be flexible and not always go for what is most convenient. McDonaldization eliminates choice, and the only businesses that can really compete with restaurants like McDonalds are other large chains with the same basic in-and-out values, (Burger King, Wendy’s and Taco Bell). Without these chains, more diverse and culturally friendly restaurants wouldn’t be pushed out so there would be more room for say three Taco Bells in one neighborhood. To resist losing culture and becoming caught up in the fast paced homogenization of retailers- having family owned restaurants with a relaxed atmosphere is just one step to help preserve cultural diversity. "Big Box Stores" like Wal-Mart and Target can arguably be good and bad for Americans and the communities in which they live. When I think of Wal-Mart I think of a one stop place to shop. When you go to Wal-Mart and can not find what you are looking for then chances are it probably does not exist. They provide any goods you could possibly think of and for the cheapest prices around. They also provide jobs for a significant portion of our countries work force. So what could be bad about Wal-Mart? Well the only thing that could honestly be bad about Wal-Mart is that they are making it very difficult for other businesses to compete with them in the same market. They are putting a lot of smaller companies out of business which is bad for a lot of working people and their families. The future for Wal-Mart could hold many possibilities but I honestly can not picture any that would be harmful to their business. Wal-Mart is a very successful company and they have the support of the public behind them. Especially with their new prescription drug program nothing but good things will be happening for Wal-Mart. Every middle and lower income city I have ever been to has a Wal-Mart and guess who shops at Wal-Mart, just about everyone in the city. Those customers that have always shopped at Wal-Mart to save money are going to go crazy for $4.00 prescriptions. Wal-Mart will probably become the leading distributor of generic drugs in the country after starting this new program. People are always looking to save money and with this new program, Wal-Mart will truly be a one stop shopping opportunity.

References:

The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer McDonaldization of America's Police, Courts, and Corrections by Matthew B. Robinson McCitizens by Bryan Turner Sociology of Consumption: Fast Food, Credit Cards and Casinos ed. George Ritzer Contemporary Social Theory and It's Classical Roots: The Basics by George Ritzer