The McDonaldization Thesis

George Ritzer is Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, where he has also been a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher and won a Teaching Excellence Award. He was awarded the Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award by the American Sociological Association, an honorary doctorate from LaTrobe University in Australia, and the Robin Williams Lectureship from the Eastern Sociological Society. His best-known work, The McDonaldization of Society (8th ed.), has been read by hundreds of thousands of students over two decades and translated into over a dozen languages. Ritzer is also the editor of McDonaldization: The Reader; and author of other works of critical sociology related to the McDonaldization thesis, including Enchanting a Disenchanted World, The Globalization of Nothing, Expressing America: A Critique of the Global Credit Card Society, as well as a series best-selling social theory textbooks and Globalization: A Basic Text. He is the Editor of the Encyclopedia of Social Theory (2 vols.), the Encyclopedia of Sociology (11 vols.; 2nd edition forthcoming), the Encyclopedia of Globalization (5 vols.), and is Founding Editor of the Journal of Consumer Culture. In 2016 he will publish the second edition of Essentials of Sociology with SAGE.

`Ritzer here revisits and extends the ground-breaking theory he first fully expounded in 1993 in The McDonaldisation of Society, since when he has published a number of papers which take the thesis further and on which this book builds....This is exciting, readable, provocative modern sociology that sets out to challenge the dominant trends in the construction of our brave new global world....His work constitutes a serious academic challenge from within the very heartland of McDonaldisation and I highly recommend it to those who want to gain a perspective on post-modern society (and sociology)′ - Self & Society`The new book will underline the importance and usefulness of the concept of McDonaldization and I fully expect that it will become a standard topic for years to come.. Fascinating, it will make an ideal focus for lectures, seminars and so on′ - Alan Bryman, Loughborough University``McDonaldization′ I came to appreciate long ago - it is by now a household term!′ Professor Zygmunt Bauman, Department of Sociology, University of Leeds.

• Introduction: McDonaldization and BeyondTHEORETICAL ISSUESMannheim′s Theory of RationalizationAn Alternative Resource for the McDonaldization Thesis?The McDonaldization of American SociologyA Metasociological AnalysisMunch(ing) on the McDonald(ization) of Social TheoryTHE EXPANSION OF MCDONALDIZATIONMcJobsMcDonaldization and its Relationship to the Labor ProcessMcDonaldizationThe New American MenaceGlobalization, McDonaldization and AmericanizationCredit Cards, Fast-Food Restaurants and Increasing RationalizationTHE NEW MEANS OF CONSUMPTIONThe New Means of ConsumptionA Postmodern Analysis`McDisneyization′ and `Post-Tourism′Complementary Perspectives on Contemporary TourismMcUniversity in the Postmodern Consumer SocietyDealing with the New Means of ConsumptionMCDONALDIZATION REDUXSome Concluding Thoughts on the McDonaldization Thesis