Resisting McDonaldization / Edition 1

by Barry Smart

Overview

George Ritzer's Mc Donaldization thesis argued that contemporary life is succumbing to the standardization, flexibility and practicability of fast-food service. This book brings together specially commissioned papers by leading social and cultural analysts to engage in a critical appraisal of the thesis.

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 Mc Donaldization thesis are clearly evaluated and the irrational consequences of rationalization are pinpointed and critically

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780761955177
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	06/22/1999
Series:	Social Theory Series
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Barry Smart is Professor of Sociology at the University of Portsmouth and has longstanding research interests in the fields of social theory, political economy, and philosophy. His research interests include critical social research ethics; higher education; and collaborative work on veganism, ethics, lifestyle and environment.

Table of Contents

Resisting Mc Donaldization - Barry Smart
Theory, Process and Critique
Golden Arches and Iron Cages - Christiane Bender and Gianfranco Poggi
Mc Donaldization and the Poverty of Cultural Pessimism at the End of the Twentieth Century
Have You Had Your Theory Today? - John O'Neill
Mc Donaldization Enframed - Deena Weinstein and Michael A Weinstein
Rich Food - Joanne Finkelstein
Mc Donald's and Modern Life
Mc Citizens - Bryan Turner
Risk, Coolness and Irony in Contemporary Politics
Theme Parks and Mc Donaldization - Alan Bryman
The Mc Donaldization of Sport and Leisure - David Jary
Mc Donaldized Culture - The End of Communication? - Richard M[um]unch
Art Centres - Gary Alan Fine
Southern Folk Art and the Splintering of a Hegemonic Market
Dennis Hopper, Mc Donald's and Nike - Norman K Denzin
Theorizing/Resisting Mc Donaldization - Douglas Kellner
A Multiperspectivist Approach
The Moral Malaise of Mc Donaldization - Keith Tester
The Values of Vegetarianism
Mc Fascism? Reading Ritzer, Bauman and the Holocaust - Peter Beilharz
Assessing the Resistance - George Ritzer