Rating: 
Summary: A Must Read for the Rushed, the Hectic, the Unhappy
Review: So often we hear those words, "I wish there were more time." More time for minding the kids, more time for doing our work with the quality that we somehow know can be attained, more time for creative pursuits. Why this pervasive "time deficit" malaise? Sociologist George Ritzer has some answers, and they are unsettling. In "The McDonaldization of Society," Ritzer takes the fast-food industry and its principles of business as an organizational template for emerging postmodern society. He points out that the book in not a criticism of McDonald's, nor even the fast-food business, but an analysis of how fast-food organizational practices have permeated into myriad aspects of our social lives. His marshalling of evidience for this trend is compelling. Using many examples from such disparate social institutions as family life, higher education, the funeral business, health care, and entertainment, Ritzer illuminates the broader trends within the "taken for granted" daily routines of life. He does so with a keen sociological eye, but also with a very wry sense of irreverence that adds a sardonic touch of humor to the expose. The fast-food model, according to Ritzer, has a manner of pushing us towards ever greater reliance on the fostering of quantity over quality, attainment of efficiency, creation of predictability, and reducing much of our life experience to a coldly calculated "value." As one reads further and takes in the diverse landscape of specific illustrations for these trends, one begins to see the "McDonalized" influence everywhere. Then too, one will also grasp why so many of us are bemoaning the demise of free time in our lives, and how we have become unwitting captives of the mindless inertia of "I want it fast, I want it now, I want what's next" mentalities. Fortunately, Ritzer includes a chapter on what to do about living in a "McDonalized" world. He points out that we do have choices, and responsibilities, shoud we choose to accept them. One can learn to march to a less frantic pace of social organization, and recognize that many of the promised "rewards" of such an accelerated lifestyle are simply false and hollow. After reading a book like this, one feels compelled to begin thinking through the relationship between personal life and institutional pressures for faster living. That alone is a solid reason to have a copy of this book. It will uncover some unpleasant realities, but at the same time challenge one to get beyond the defeatist attitude of "well, what you gonna' do?" "McDonaldization of Society" is indeed a wake-up call, but also a consciousness altering work that underscores the important truth: just because the rest of society seems to be running faster and without real purpose, it doesn't mean that one must fall in line. My advice: Purchase this insightful book, take time to read and think about it... read it, in fact, at a favorite "Ma and Pa" type diner, where they won't encourage you to rush out the door and will ask you to wait awhile while the cook fusses over that blue-plate special. A choice, you see.
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read for the Rushed, the Hectic, the Unhappy
Review: So often we hear those words, "I wish there were more time." More time for minding the kids, more time for doing our work with the quality that we somehow know can be attained, more time for creative pursuits. Why this pervasive "time deficit" malaise? Sociologist George Ritzer has some answers, and they are unsettling. In "The McDonaldization of Society," Ritzer takes the fast-food industry and its principles of business as an organizational template for emerging postmodern society. He points out that the book in not a criticism of McDonald's, nor even the fast-food business, but an analysis of how fast-food organizational practices have permeated into myriad aspects of our social lives. His marshalling of evidience for this trend is compelling. Using many examples from such disparate social institutions as family life, higher education, the funeral business, health care, and entertainment, Ritzer illuminates the broader trends within the "taken for granted" daily routines of life. He does so with a keen sociological eye, but also with a very wry sense of irreverence that adds a sardonic touch of humor to the expose. The fast-food model, according to Ritzer, has a manner of pushing us towards ever greater reliance on the fostering of quantity over quality, attainment of efficiency, creation of predictability, and reducing much of our life experience to a coldly calculated "value." As one reads further and takes in the diverse landscape of specific illustrations for these trends, one begins to see the "McDonalized" influence everywhere. Then too, one will also grasp why so many of us are bemoaning the demise of free time in our lives, and how we have become unwitting captives of the mindless inertia of "I want it fast, I want it now, I want what's next" mentalities. Fortunately, Ritzer includes a chapter on what to do about living in a "McDonalized" world. He points out that we do have choices, and responsibilities, shoud we choose to accept them. One can learn to march to a less frantic pace of social organization, and recognize that many of the promised "rewards" of such an accelerated lifestyle are simply false and hollow. After reading a book like this, one feels compelled to begin thinking through the relationship between personal life and institutional pressures for faster living. That alone is a solid reason to have a copy of this book. It will uncover some unpleasant realities, but at the same time challenge one to get beyond the defeatist attitude of "well, what you gonna' do?" "McDonaldization of Society" is indeed a wake-up call, but also a consciousness altering work that underscores the important truth: just because the rest of society seems to be running faster and without real purpose, it doesn't mean that one must fall in line. My advice: Purchase this insightful book, take time to read and think about it... read it, in fact, at a favorite "Ma and Pa" type diner, where they won't encourage you to rush out the door and will ask you to wait awhile while the cook fusses over that blue-plate special. A choice, you see.
Rating: 
Summary: Explains a lot of things about America I never understood
Review: The learned Mr. Ritzer presents a new paradigm for understanding the way America has become structured. His examples are sound, his reasoning impeccable, and the only flaw a reader can point out is that there's just no hope for any of us. In thirty years every building will have a golden arch over it, and every human being will wear either big mouse ears or a red clown wig. Join me in an antifreeze cocktail.
Rating:
Summary: A vey revealing book
Review: The McDonaldization of Society is an interesting and seemingly picture of how many sectors of society are using the rational methods championed by "Mickey Dees" that are supposedly efficient. This book is about the negative side effects of such processes. These methods basically are more efficient for the companies employing them, but inefficient for the customer. They put a premium on profits over quality, alienate workers, and are damaging towards the environment. This book will uncover the McDonaldized reasons behind many of our common routines. The main reason why these McDonaldized ways flourish is because the majority of the people believe in them and confirm to them which to me is a form of false class consciousness. Most of such people have been conditioned to such McDonaldized ways so are therefore unable to question these methods. More than ever the Socratic mandate, "The unexamined life is not worth living," becomes more important for us to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: More of the Same
Review: This book could not be more predictible, or less informed. It is the same old ahistorical modernist rant: market capitalism destroyed real community, real meaning and, for that matter, reality iself. Whatever you make of its politics, or its lack of originality, the most damning criticism is that it exhibits a visible lack of contact with the anthropological or material culture record. It makes no contact with social history. But, being careful really doesn't matter much when you are on the side of the angels: beating up on McDonald's and modernity usually requires little more than the will to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Superb--unlocks the dehumanizing trends in American life
Review: This book is not anti-capitalist. It is an outstanding discussion of why the search for profits above all else in this country can lead to a society where life and work are dehumanized. Ritzer's book offers solutions to help stem that dehumanizing tide, and those who want a better, more human America should read this book. Those who think that a cheeseburger and a shallow Hollywood movie with a roman numeral after it will find this book as useless as, say, Tolstoy.
Rating:
Summary: Superb--unlocks the dehumanizing trends in American life
Review: This book is not anti-capitalist. It is an outstanding discussion of why the search for profits above all else in this country can lead to a society where life and work are dehumanized. Ritzer's book offers solutions to help stem that dehumanizing tide, and those who want a better, more human America should read this book. Those who think that a cheeseburger and a shallow Hollywood movie with a roman numeral after it will find this book as useless as, say, Tolstoy.
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