The McDonaldization of Society

Recipient of a 2021 McGuffey Longevity Award from the Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) The book that made "McDonaldization" part of the lexicon of contemporary sociological theory, read by hundreds of thousands of students, is now in its Tenth Edition. George Ritzer′s seminal work of critical sociology, The McDonaldization of Society, continues to stand as one of the pillars of modern sociological thought. Building on the argument that the fast food restaurant has become the model for the rationalization process today, this book links theory to contemporary life in a globalized world. Ritzer opens our eyes to many current issues and shows how McDonaldization’s principles—efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control—have been applied to other sectors of American society and throughout the world. This new edition continues to shift its focus to how we experience McDonaldization online, the new locus of production and consumption in the digital age.