McDonaldization

McDonaldization is a term used by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society (1993). He explains that it becomes manifested when a culture adopts the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant. McDonaldization is a reconceptualization of rationalization, or moving from traditional to rational modes of thought, and scientific management. Where Max Weber used the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, Ritzer sees the fast-food restaurant as having become a more representative contemporary paradigm (Ritzer, 2004:553). In contemporary society, the concept of McDonaldization is gaining attention in different aspects such as culture. McDonaldization thesis in cultural version is a comparatively recent idea of the worldwide homogenization of cultures. The process of McDonaldization can be summarized as the way in which "the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world." In the current period, most countries have adapted to this concept because of globalization. In fact, it has been predicted that the Ritzer model will come to dominate in most cultures.