SOCIOLOGY WEBER

RITZER APPLIES WEBER:  The McDonaldization of Society

Rationalization as an ideal type and as an historical force appears in much of Weber's writings. He regards the development of rational forms to be one of the most important characteristics of the development of Western society and capitalism. Weber viewed traditional and charismatic forms as irrational, or at least non-rational. The latter may rely on religion, magic, or the supernatural as a way of explaining the social world and authority may also derive from these. These may have no systematic form of development, but may rely on personal insight, revelation, emotions, and feelings, features that are non-rational in form.

In contrast, rationality consists of a set of social actions governed by reason or reasoning, calculation, plus rational pursuit of one's interests. Rationality forms a large part of rational-legal authority and there are several characteristics that Weber considers as aspects of rationality.  Ritzer borrows heavily and suggests that most social institutions are now governed by the model of rationalization put for by Weber--and can the perfect model for this is seen in the social organization of the fast-food industry, namely McDonalds. He calls this the McDonalidization of society (Ritzer, pp. 124-125).  All major social institutions/formal organizations such as universities, government etc. have most of these characteristics as specified by Weber:

· Calculability. Results can be calculated or estimated by adopting assumptions and considering the methods by which results will be achieved. This is especially the case in formal institutions or in businesses

· Efficiency. Actors have various ends and attempt to find the best means to achieving these ends.

· Predictability. Organizations have rules and regulations, and actors are subject to structures and authority. This, along with established procedures and ends, mean that the results of social action can often be predicted, perhaps not precisely, but certainly probabilities attached to the outcomes.

· Non-Human Technology. Technologies such as tools, machinery, and information technologies make predictability greater. That is, these technologies are constructed with certain purposes, and so long as they assist in achieving the desired ends, the results are generally predictable.

· Control Over Uncertainties. This can never be complete, but rules and methods are adopted that deal with many possible contingencies. Rules are set up not so much to deal with specific people or personalities, but attempt to be generic, dealing with a variety of possibilities. These allow outcomes to be constrained within certain limits, thereby reducing uncertainties about outcomes.

These principles of rationality can be applied to many activities and actions in the economic sphere and have become highly developed and visible there. Hyper-formal rationalization might be a better way of describing what has occurred in the development of modern society. In modern society we see these principles for organizing organizations emerge in most areas, even religion, politics, administration, sports, and music. Organizations and actions governed by rationality may produce an overall rationality for the system, but this is not a necessary result. For example, studies of economics show how many producers each acting rationally to maximize their own profits, may produce too many products. As a result, the consequences for people involved in formally rational systems may not always be desirable. That is, there can be IRRATIONAL CONSEQUENCES of rationalization.  While Weber considered rationality to be necessary for organizations to operate efficiently, e felt that the trend was that rationality would may take over more and more spheres of society. Weber feared that this could result in increased control over individual action, stifling charisma and tradition, and allowing few alternatives for creative human action. Lack of choice, lack of creativity, socially organizing the world to emphasize predictability over flexibility (and humanity --loss of substantive rationality) would result in the  IRON CAGE of rationalization.