Resisting McDonaldization
- Barry Smart - University of Portsmouth, UK
Sociological Theory
The contributors discuss the roots of the thesis, the rationalization of late modern life, the effects of increasing cultural commodification, the continuing prominence of American cultural and economic imperialism and the impact of globalization on social and cultural life. The strengths and weaknesses of the McDonaldization thesis are clearly evaluated and the irrational consequences of rationalization are pinpointed and critically developed. The book enlarges our understanding of how everyday life is structured by new standards of bureaucratic control and performance-related criteria and plays a major role in illuminating how identity and practice are structured today. The volume concludes with a response from George Ritzer.
`An impressively wide-ranging collection of critical responses to, and applications of, Ritzer's thesis, including contributions by some of the world's leading social theorists and held together by Barry Smart's comprehensive introduction and Ritzer's own detailed response to his admirers and critics. The 'Ritzer thesis', as it has come to be know, has of course found a massive response, admirably captured in this volume' - William Outhwaite, University of Sussex
`Consumer capitalism may be spreading everywhere, but not without opposition. As Resisting McDonaldization shows, a wide variety of people and movements struggle to maintain the local, to combine economic development with greater equality and justice, and to pursue alternative visions of the global future. The essays are trenchant and timely' - Craig Calhoun, New York University, USA
