McDonaldisation of Disney Theme Parks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

McDonaldisation of Disney Theme Parks - Essay Example Literature shows that McDonaldisation has come to represent the vast commodification and standardization of numerous products and services in different industries and sectors (O’Toole 2009; Thompson 2006). Learning, for instance, has been McDonaldised with the rise of standardized approaches to tutorials and pre-school services, such as Kumon and kindergarten services that have the same learning strategies and materials. This paper reviews the McDonaldisation of Disney theme parks. The author already visited several Disney parks particularly in California and Hong Kong Disneyland Resort. It begins with providing an overview of the theory of McDonaldisation and then it applies the features of McDonaldisation on these theme parks. This paper argues that Disney theme parks have been McDonaldised, because they promote efficiency, calculability, predictability, better control, and the substitution of human by non-human technology. Theory of McDonaldisation McDonaldisation â€Å"is 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 of the rest of the world† (Ritzer 1993, p.1 cited in Keel 2010). The theory has been developed by George Ritzer who has taken important elements of Max Weber’s framework and broadened and made them more relevant to present society (Keel 2010). The vital theme of Weber's examination of modern society was the process of Rationalisation, which is a process where conventional modes of thinking were replaced by ends/means analysis that pursued efficiency and formalized social control (Keel 2010). For Weber, the demonstration of this process was Bureaucracy, a large and formal organization that possessed a hierarchical authority structure, clear division of labor, written rules and regulations, impersonality and technical competence (Keel 2010). Bureaucratic organizations stand for the process of rationalization and the structure they in flict on human interaction and thinking intensifies the process, leading to a more and more rationalized world (Keel 2010). Ritzer critically analyses the impacts of social structural transformations on human interaction and identity (Keel 2010). He stresses that in the later part of the 20th century, the social structures of the fast-food restaurant has become the â€Å"organizational force† that broadened the process of rationalization further to the dimensions of interaction and individual identity (Keel 2010). Ritzer stresses that the five themes within this McDonaldisation process are Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, Increased Control, and the Replacement of Human by Non-human Technology, as well as the â€Å"irrationality of rationality† (Keel 2010). Efficiency pertains to choosing the means of production that was rapidly and uses the least cost or effort (Keel 2010). Calculability concentrates on factors that have to be calculated, counted, and measure d (Keel 2010). Quantification tends to stress quantity over quantity, hence leading to mass production (Keel 2010). Quality becomes equal to quantity, such as quota (Ritzer 1994, p.142 cited in Keel 2010). Predictability means decreasing potential differences in the delivery of services or goods (Keel 2010). â€Å"A Big Mac is a Big Mac is a Big Mac† wherever it is served (Keel 2010). Increased control and the substitution of human by non-human technology are deeply connected (Keel 2010). Ritzer combines the two McDonaldisation process: â€Å"...these two elements are closely linked.