I had the opportunity to visit Fuller Theological Seminary this past week and attend a lecture featuring George Ritzer and John Drane. George Ritzer is a professor at the University of Maryland. He is the author of "The McDonaldization of Society" and, more recently, "The Globalization of Nothing." John Drane is a professor of practical theology at the University of Aberdeen. He has written a book called "The McDonaldization of the Church," which is partially based on Ritzer's sociological thesis.
Ritzer defines McDonaldization as "the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world." (The McDonaldization of Society by George Ritzer, p.1) In "The McDonaldization of the Church," John Drane lays out the four principles of the McDonaldization process: efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. Drane then talks about how these principles have guided the church.
In George Ritzer's portion of the lecture I attended, he talked about the difference between nothing and something. According to his use of the word, nothing is a "social form that is generally centrally conceived/controlled and comparatively devoid of distinctive substantive content." McDonald's is the classic purveyor of nothing. There are McDonald's restaurants in over 100 countries in the world, all of which are pretty much identical. This is because they are all conceived and controlled by a centralized company. There is no allowance for distinctiveness, beyond a few minor menu alterations.
Ritzer pointed out the problems involved with this worldwide production of "non-things." The products of the McDonaldization process are generic, they have a lack of local ties in space or in time, they are dehumanized and they are disenchanted. Ritzer was careful to point out that nothing is not always bad. There are positive things that have come out of this process. He is troubled, however, by the tension between McDonaldization and the seemingly more beneficial process that has been named glocalization.
Glocalization describes the process by which the local and the global interact to produce something unique. Although globalization is an unavoidable product of advances in technology, this does not mean that all of the positive values of local culture will inevitably be wiped out. In fact, Ritzer has invented his own term, grobalization, to describe the growing influence of centralized organizations that inevitably overwhelm local influences.
As a self-proclaimed citizen of the world, I welcome the process of glocalization. I think it can be a welcome part of the partnership between humankind and God. As we continue our role as co-creators, our integrity, compassion, and artfulness will be magnified by the interplay of various cultures. At the same time, I have been awakened to the negative effect McDonaldization might continue to have on our society and on our churches.
Yesterday, I began reading John Drane's book. I have appreciated what I've read so far, and hope to comment more specifically on the dangers of the McDonaldization process in future posts.
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Note: The picture is of a McDonald's poster I saw in Bulgaria.
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