í Assignments

When Barbara Ehrenreich set out to write a book on how people are living on the pay that they get from low-wage jobs, she agreed to do her journalism as an ethnographer and to actually work doing the low-wage jobs and live the lifestyles that accompany them. Her family suggested that she just do the theoretical calculations and live off of a low-wage salary but she decided not to do this and viewed her task as a scientist, who sooner or later must surround themselves with their subjects in their natural habitats (Ehrenreich, p.9).  Originally, I thought that maybe Ehrenreich could just travel the country and interview numerous different people who worked in low-wage jobs and report on their experiences, but as I began reading her account of working in Maine, I realized the richness that her book would have lacked.

First, she does not immediately delve in by describing her experience at work. She notes that having to suddenly be in a new place is common for many living in poverty, so she begins by reporting on her search for housing.  The search proves a tough one, as she must pay $59 per day in the motel in which she is staying while she looks for something more permanent (Ehrenreich, p.36).  The places she views are small and dingy, although they do not seem unsafe.  The one she chooses does require a security deposit, which someone who works low-wage jobs and is looking for a new one, may not have (Ehrenreich, p.36).

On to her job search, she reports that clerical jobs were not an option, as she does not have the proper wardrobe, and the same may go for someone who only works low-wage jobs (Ehrenreich, p. 36). She also must take pre-employment tests, requiring that she can read and speak English (Ehrenreich, p.37).  This information may not have gotten passed along had she chosen to only interview people.  Finally, she is offered one job that will actually charge her $.65 per hour for two weeks if she fails to come to work one day (Ehrenreich, p.38).  For Ehrenreich working only one month there, this may not pose a problem, but for someone with children, poor health, or unreliable transportation, not being able to make it to work for every single shift is a stark reality.

Once she begins working, Ehrenreich describes her first day as a dietary aid in a residential home for people with Alzheimer’s. The day is full of hard work, manual labor, and what did not seem to be a humiliating experience of having milk thrown at her (Ehrenreich, p.41).  Ehrenreich takes this to be a hazing for her first day, but someone who has only worked in low-wage jobs where being looked down upon by those they are serving, may have felt differently.  At her job as a Merry Maid, she describes her not-so-merry skin condition that requires a trip to the doctor (Ehrenreich, p.51).  Paying for a doctor’s visit for someone without health insurance can mean a huge financial set back, especially if they are required to miss a day of work, losing $.65 on the hour for the next two weeks.

Ehrenreich could not have written her book with the accounts of surviving on low-wage jobs the way that she did, had she not experienced it herself. I also appreciate that she recognizes the fact that she has many advantages over other low-wage workers-her race, education, health, and of course the fact that this is only a temporary experiment for her (Ehrenreich, p.12).  For her co-workers as well as millions of other Americans, living off of low incomes is a daily reality.

Due Sunday, November 13th, by midnight. Word count: 400 words. Please make sure everything is in your own words. If you paraphrase, make sure to include the proper citation.

In the introduction to her book, Nickel and Dimed, Barbara Ehrenreich (2001:8) notes that certain family members told her she could complete her research without ever leaving her study. Drawing on details from the text (in particular from chapter two) explain what benefit, if any, Ehrenreich’s work derives from her decision to “do the old fashioned kind of journalism.”

Ritzer describes rationalization with an example of a system that has been developed by one of the biggest fast food corporations in the world. McDonalds has evolved to create a comfortable and efficient fast-food dining experience that has also shaped society and developed a system in to accommodate today’s family dinner style.

Ritzer breaks down Mcdonaldization into a system of five dimensions. The first dimension is efficieny. In the Mcdonaldization process, the main goal is to take advantage of the modern day family limitations of being able to sit down and have a home cooked meal by creating the most efficient dining experience. (Ritzer 372)

The next dimension is Predictability. In Mcdonaldization, a standard menu and taste has been created to ensure that no matter which Mcdonalds you visit, you will get an almost identical experience with looks, service and taste. This creates comfort and trust so that people continue to visit anywhere they are and can receive that feeling of familiarity. (Ritzer 374)

The third dimension is calculability and quantity. This component in Mcdonaldization, we experience the emphasis on size of a burger or the number of customers that McDonalds has instead of focusing on the quality of the food. This is just another method used to detour people from possibly nutrition and focuses more on supersizing meals and popularity of the restaurant. (Ritzer 375)

The fourth and fifth dimension is substitution of non-human technology and control. In the Mcdonaldiztion process, the key is to have that assembly line like system in order to be quick, efficient and to give that uniform experience at any Mcdonalds location. Some examples of this are the use of machinery to make the food or to train the employees that they do have in a way that makes the experience the same because they are trained to behave in a robot like manner. Saying the same exact thing and using machinery to do most of their work. It is just a matter of pushing buttons rather than thinking. This rational system ultimately creates the control over their workers in order to make them both quickly replaceable or to phase out the need for a human being. Not only controlling the employee but also controlling the customers maneuvering throughout the restaurant or drive thru.

All of these dimensions of rationalism are similar to the theories of Max Weber. Weber’s description of the Spirit of Capitalism explains the process by which capitalist have a system generated to control consumers in the similar fashion as Mcdonalization. Also, in the theory of the Protestant work ethic, we see that the idea of making things by hand or being a craftsman is looked down upon or becomes obsolete. The Protestant work ethic is a more elite way of living such as Mcdonaldization with technology.

McDonaldization is the term George Ritzer uses to describe the traits that modern American society finds itself acquiring as it moves towards revamping rationalization. Our capitalist society’s main goal is to achieve maximum cheap production through speed and efficiency. In doing so it starts to mirror the fast food industries principles of operation. As per George Ritzer, there are five principles that make up McDonaldization and our modern society seems to be moving more in that direction.

The first principle is Efficiency, which is the emphasis on looking for the best and fastest route to reaching the set goal. An example of this is how the fast food restaurants want to produce the fastest way to feed it’s customers by cutting corners in production. This is also true, with the busy modern families who want to find the fastest way to feed their families when they are on the go; therefore they find themselves either eating at a fast food restaurant or having frozen TV dinners.

The second principle is Predictability: It is to always know what you are getting. Fast food restaurants only offer a limited menu, as they don’t want to take chances in making any changes on the tastes of their menu items. Our society wants to know what to expect that is why TV dinners are so popular, as they tend to consist of the same entries; they are either Chicken with mash potatoes, turkey with roasted potatoes or something very similar.

The third principle is Calculability: It is the emphasis of quantity rather than quality. This is seen as how McDonalds advertises how many billions of hamburgers they have served versus telling us how delicious their hamburgers are. We see this in our modern school system as it places it’s emphasis on the standardized exams and the students are then reduced to their scores.

The fourth principle is Substitution of Nonhuman Technology: In the effort to limit human error, companies take away the human skills and build them into technology. For example most cash registers now have the prices of their menus items already program into them. Most individuals now days can’t seem to live without their smart phones. There is no need to call for the operator as they can use their phones for assistance.

The fifth principle is Control: It is to standardize a set of rule. This is used as companies / fast food industry want to control how their employees do their jobs to maximize their productivity. We also see how control comes into play as parents set many different rules to try to keep their unruly children in line.

Max Weber and George Ritzer both explain economic rationalization in their own terms. Max Weber explains the spirit of capitalism as the ideas and set values of hard work that derived from the protestant reform as the major contributors to the rational pursuit of economic gain. The Protestant work ethic influenced their people to work hard that in return contribute to the accumulation of wealth and the growth of capitalism. As per George Ritzer, McDonaldization is based on the principles that thrive in a vast consumption based economy that is goal oriented and in return fuels Capitalism.

In this reading, George Ritzer hypothesizes a conversion into a more McDonaldization society. These societies reflect the way McDonald’s are efficiently run and how its uniformity is superior to excellence and personalization. This form of rationalized thinking for life coincides with Max Weber describes in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in the sense of how economical businesses are run.

George Ritzer speaks of a very rational society while speaking of McDonaldization. This outlook motives a purposefully obtainable systematic order to achieve one’s end goals. Ritzer offers a coherent step by step breaks down of five dimensions. The rationalized dimensions for society all coincide with our economy as workers and consumers. This results as a mean for supply and demand.

Firstly, Ritzer notes the best way to achieve an end goal is through efficiency. With the use of a metaphor, he illustrates our efficiency. The transformation of how we obtain our meals has changed for with the notion of efficiency. We’ve gone from cooking all day in the kitchen prepping our meals from scratch and the pass down recipes, to frozen TV dinners. The extremes of our eating patterns have resulted in the measure of taking out and fast food restaurants.

Then, Ritzer emphasizes the importance of predictability.  Formation of patterns affects what we purchase in our daily lives. In continuous with the food method, he emphasizes the relationship we share with food and our senses of the familiar. If this meal tasted good a few months ago, it should taste equally as good tomorrow, a taste for predictability coincides with what we perceived as efficient. The notion of a predictable notion equates to a mindset of comfort and security.

Next, Ritzer disputes the need for measuring the quality of things VS. quantity. This battle offers its own challenges as it is based on personal experiences and opinion. Purchasing the best quality gives the consumer the same security as predictability. The downfall of measuring life is that all things cannot be scaled a numerate measurement, such as things like food, and employment.

Fourthly, Ritzer gives insight on the replacement of man by technology. Fast food employees will eventually be replaced by machines. The workers that remained will be given a very specific job with zero room for creativity, and no form of hands-on craftsmanship will be given.

Lastly, Ritzer simply brings clarity to the notion of the importance of having some control over various elements of their lives.

George Ritzer describes McDonalization as a wide range process of rationalization that is occurring in American society. McDonalization is the idea that we as human beings have to live a fast pace life using fast food, nonhuman technology using efficient appliances, efficiency and predictability. He uses this metaphor in order to help us visualized how fast food restaurants are the present-day examples of how rationalization develops. And how all these advantages are in place to distract us from seeing all the negative effects of living in this society and what is causing us. (Ritzer p.372) mentions that we are ultimately concerned with the irrational consequences that often flow from rational systems.

George Ritzer explained that McDonalization and rationalization go hand and hand because rationalization leads to McDonalization which is a fast pace society. The relationship between Ritzer and Weber is that in (p.6) the Spirit of Capitalism is best understood as part of the development of rationalism as a whole, and this is deduced from the fundamental position of rationalism on the basic problems of life. In Ritzer McDonalization its understood as part of bureaucracy and society although in contemporary America is no longer bureaucracy, rationalism developed into McDonalization. A society that focuses on doing things efficiently an on finding the best and fastest way of doing things. (Ritzer p.372) He mentions McDonalization brings efficiency in the work force but we need to be careful because it replaces humans with non-human technology (machines). Ritzer and Weber are speaking on changes to society. Ritzer talks about the changes and the effect living in a fast pace society is causing on people. How we are used to going too fast food restaurants and how technology is taking over our jobs. Another part of rationalization is the effort we make to guarantee predictability from all the places we go, and if predictability is not offer or we are uncertain about what is going to happen we prefer not to be involved.  For example: how we go to McDonalds and how they have different stations where we can place our order without needing a person to help us. This is a good and a bad thing because it makes the process of ordering food faster and more efficient, it is also a bad thing because it replaces people jobs with machines. Weber on (p.7) was speaking more on how rationalism is a historical concept which covers a whole world of different directions just like McDonalization does and how was helping change capitalism.

According to Ritzer, McDonaldization is broken down into four different components, which are efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. He wants us to understand that society and human plays a big part in this social structure. He compares McDonaldization to fast food restaurants and when we think about fast food we think of something quick. Fast food restaurants are dominating the society. That is the efficiency part of fast food, it is convenient, it is the fastest way of getting something without losing time. He explains this on page3, how the food production, and the organized productivity makes it more efficient for us to sit all day, and more efficient means a good thing for some! With so many fast-food chains all over the place it gives the people something quick a reliable, Its quality over quantity. In the end of it all as consumers we are always going to receive the same service for the same product every time and that is the way society is always going to be controlled. It is not going to change, the only thing that is going to change is humans are going to be replaced by machines. On page 6, he says that manual work is history and we are going to replace human technology with non human technology. We are basically getting rid of humans, period. Everything now, is pre-packed or automated and you are basically not required to think anymore, just put the button and you are done! He says that we should be able to rationalize things in a good way. Human act on things and they don’t think rationally, saying” I want think” rather than, “its not good for me.” Its all about the quickness. Comparing this to Max Weber, these kinds of work puts a stop in society and a stop in human creativity. Humans suffer from these bureaucracies because its no longer an interaction but a business. Technology has has such a big impact in our lives, that it is almost impossible to get away from. Our lives are already in control, how much more are we going to let it control us. People are being replaced by machines as much as possible, and it makes it that much easier for us. Its changing the society. Ritzers argument is that it is taking a toll on all aspects of our lives and this is the kind of thing that leads to many other problems in the future.

“McDonaldization” is the way society adopts the characteristics of the fast food restaurants. A nation driven by rationality, speed and efficiency. Ritzer used the success of the fast food restaurants as a metaphor to explain the trends happening in society.

The Ritzer’s work states five key aspects by which fast food restaurant’s work production and consumption can be compared. These aspects are calculability, efficiency, predictability, substitution of nonhuman technology and control over uncertainty.

The way fast food restaurants are set up to provide food fast make it more convenient, efficient at a high speed for people on the go anywhere at anytime make it efficient which cut time and cost. He spoke about predictable where he compared TV dinners with home cooking from scratch and which one is more predictable than the other. He also spoke about calculability which is the emphasis on quantity over quality. Where he uses McDonald’s burger to make his point about how they tell you about how many burgers were sold than the quality of its burgers.

Also, he touches on the recent events that is happening in society where machines is starting to replace humans in the workplace. For example, the self-help machines in the lobby McDonalds, the ones in the AT&T stores even the ATM machines in the banks they replaced the tellers. It’s funny when he stated that McDonalds haven’t had robots serving food yet which at the rate we are moving it’s a matter of time before it happen. But he stated that their work make them act like robots due to the automated work that they must perform for example drink dispensers that stops when cups are filled. What I found most interesting is when he mentioned religion and mentioned drive in churches and the replacement of human by television screens.

He then draws on control where he states that corporations also have control over uncertainties of life, death, birth, and production and control over the employees and customer who they serve. For example, drive through windows at night when the stores are closed.

The relationship between “McDonaldization” and the economic rationalization of Max Weber is that is used to represent the direction of the changing society. The principles of how the fast food restaurant is dominating society while weber spoke about how religion is pushing capitalism. So, both speak about the force behind the changes in society. Ritzer states that efficiency. Predictability, control and substitution are the force pushing the change in his article.

In his essay, George Ritzer posits that there has become a “McDonaldization” of society, meaning that society mirrors the way in which McDonalds’ are run-efficiency and uniformity are superior to quality and personalization (Ritzer, p.1). This rational way of life also carries over to businesses and is similar to the economic rationalism that Max Weber describes in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.

When Ritzer discusses the McDonaldization of society, he describes a rational society, in which motives are purposeful and set in place in order to reach different end goals.  He breaks down the way in which it is rational into five dimensions.  First, he mentions how we do things more efficiently, the best way to get to an end.  He uses the metaphor of how we choose to get our meals to describe the transformation of efficiency that has taken place.  We have gone from cooking meals from scratch, to using recipes, to heating up frozen dinners, to finally eating at fast food restaurants, most of which have drive-thru’s to order from (Ritzer, p.3).

Next, Ritzer states the importance that predictability plays in our lives, especially when we are attempting to choose what to purchase.  Knowing that a meal will be just as tasty as it was when we had it a month ago, allows us to feel a certain security and confidence in returning to a place we had previously dined (Ritzer, p.3).  Then, Ritzer argues that we have a need to be able to measure the quality of things, which can be challenging, and therefore we try to measure them by quantity (Ritzer, p.5).  It makes us feel good to know that we are performing our best and that we purchased the best car.  The problem here is that not all things, such as grades, food, and employees, can be measured by a score (Ritzer, p.6).

The fourth dimension Ritzer brings to light is the replacement of humans by non-human technology.  The people working in fast food restaurants are soon to be replaced by machines (Ritzer, p.6).  Those workers who are not able to be replaced are still told exactly how to perform their jobs, leaving very little room for creativity and craftsmanship (Ritzer, p.7).  Finally, Ritzer explains our need to have control over various aspects of life, including other lives themselves.  We are so concerned with having control over other people, especially employers over their workers and businesses over their clientele (Ritzer, p.7).  He warns that rationality has negative effects as well, such as making things more impersonal and taking the excitement out of the unknown (Ritzer, p.8).

All of these dimensions of a rational society can be related to the economy; most of them lead to a higher production of goods and sales.  They can also, especially efficiency, be related to Weber’s description of economic rationalism, in which Protestants worked harder in a more purposeful and calculated manner in order to earn more money (Weber, p.7).  It seems as though this idea is still continuing to evolve today.

This week’s reading, “ In working, Studs Terkel(1972: xxvii); Basically he says, Do you hate your job? Guess what. Most people do! What is our relationship to work and ourselves. He explains work confessed by working people. The concept is pretty simple, its the common activities we do as human beings. Terkel talks about the workers like the waitresses to confess what is really work to them and how they feel about and what they do to make a quick buck. He explains how it is so surprising how the universe feels about the jobs they have. What Terkel found in his interviews was there are many people from all different types of phases in their lives and each person had their own different perspectives on what makes work meaningful. For example Mike Lefevre, he made many sacrifices in his life, has an aspiration for his son to go to college, how he goes to the bar to let steam out. How and when to set boundaries for work time and personal time. It finally brings us down to what work is and what it means to us. Most people go to work to maintain their living, and others go to work because they simply love their jobs. But work in a way keep is functioning. This takes us back to the article where Terkel wrote about someone who gave up their job to continue a career that he loved to do. In the end, sometimes we realize that it work will always be work and it will always be here. Why not do something you love to do.  Lastly, my dream job is to be an ART teacher. I love everything about art, at the moment I am not pursuing my career because I need to money to care for my children, but eventually I will. He also brings up the idea that work is meaningful and how work connects to “human matters”. People spend most of their lives working and sometimes the right job can give you different and even positive opportunities. Terkel is saying that its not the time at work that matter but the investment we put in it,  like our spirits. It is important for people to know the meaning in their lives and their jobs.