McDonaldization is a word or rather a concept used to define the way in which

principles of the fast food restaurants are dominating more and more sectors of the American

Society as well as the rest of the world. The term was used for the first time in 1993 by

sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society. Where Max Weber used

the model of the bureaucracy to represent the direction of this changing society, Ritzer sees the

fast-food restaurant as having become a more representative contemporary paradigm (Ritzer,

2004:553). It has been argued that one of the examples of this phenomenon can be education and

as the rest of the world is copying the education structure of the States for it has been seen to be

more effective, let’s take an example within the country, University of Mississippi.

Ritzer described five of the principles of the model which can be summed up into

four primary components: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. Let us talk about

predictability here. A rational society does not look for or expect any kind of surprises. People

want to know what to expect when they enter a setting or place, i.e. they base the things they are

looking for on the previous services given by the organization. In case of the University, an

undergraduate in psychology expects a lecture on Psy 202 (Elementary Statistics) as per his

schedule rather than Math 261 which would be an element of surprise that defies rationality. The

University strives to maintain predictability as any kind of degradation or change in the

education system isn’t something widely acceptable. Predictability is a result of organization. In

order to ensure predictability over time and place, a rational society must emphasize such things

as discipline, order, systemization, formalization, routine, consistency and methodical operation

().

Another of those aspects is control. Control is one of the major dimensions of

rationalization. Though it might mean control over aspects of life like birth, death etc., it is more
oriented towards controlling other people whether it be superiors controlling the workers or non-

human technologies taking control over working human resources. In case of technological

advances, though they still have human professors giving lectures in class, online courses have

become really popular nowadays. Considered as a more efficient way of teaching and learning, it

also increases the predictability as a different course cannot be created every other time and

hence, it works in subsequently altered basic structure. Use of multimedia in classrooms also

increases efficiency and predictability. Moreover, use of computers to mark examinations has

become really efficient for lecturers. This way, taking off burden from the human resources also

helps in increasing the calculability as the resources can be devoted to providing more facilities

in respect to subject matters and other activities.

Though a much debatable topic, Universities are a perfect example to portray the

McDonaldization model of rationalization for they are efficient, organized and managed, try to

provide as much as possible, are advancing in technology and are also striving to control

uncertainty, the younger generation. However, all these rationalization measures are going in a

certain direction of killing creativity. Slater mentions that online courses, especially, are

minimizing or completely eradicating the link between a teacher and a student which is essential

in educational and mental growth of a person. Although retrogressive development is not an

option or somewhat impossible in context of rationalization, some modifications to make the

concept more flexible can be adopted so as to keep the society rational and people creative and

imaginative.