å Thursday, November 3rd, 2016

Based on Ritzer’s reading, he compares our production, work and consumption to fast food restaurants in the way that they both process. He calls this term “McDonaldization”, which both sides production, work, consumption and fast food restaurants can be compared based on the four key aspects. These four key aspects are efficiency, calculability, predictability and standardization and lastly control. Ritzer explains each of these four aspects and how they could relate the production, work, consumption and the fast food restaurants. The main goal for fast food restaurant is give food to the consumer as fast as they can, as well as decent prices, which is what makes them so reliable and a choice for many people. The way production and work is efficiency is because it requires some type of equipment to cut down time on production or time that it takes to complete the task. The way consumption is the aspect of predictability and standardization is because the work is being made to have a routine and a way to be made so that each time it is identical or close to it. The way production and work is control is by management controlling their workers, making sure they are achieving the task has efficient as possible at time management rather exchange human employees for machines (technology) that will do the same task those employees had. It is again like a fast food restaurant, get the task completed as soon as possible but the job needs to be done well because the faster and better the task gets done the more consumption they will obtain.
The relationship that I see that Ritzer’s work of “McDonaldization” has with the economic rationalization of Max Weber is that both signify that there is a reason behind economy. As for Max Weber, he explains how religion it is being used as a reason to expand capitalism, for Ritzer those four key aspects, efficiency, calculability, predictability and standarlization and control, are what he calls “McDonaldization” which is the reason to expand capitalism as well. Both religion for Weber piece and the McDonaldization are what help capitalism expand because the profit is important as it is the goal. It is ways to get the workers to work harder and achieve more during their job because it will benefit the capital but that is not what it is being told to those workers. The workers are the tools which are very highly needed for both McDonaldization and Economic Rationalization to work.