Since 1955 McDonald's has grown to over 12,000 outlets worldwide. The central concepts and management techniques employed in the fast-food industry have spread to all types of businesses. In the 1980s and 1990s McDonaldization has extended its reach into more and more sectors of our society, and those areas are increasingly remote from the heart of the fast-food business. Centered upon George Ritzer』s seminal work, this course will study the dominant themes in the McDonaldization process in order to familiarize ourselves with the basic practice of cultural studies. Students will be required to keep up with weekly readings, as well as carry out actual field studies of local McDonalds and other businesses. There will be oral presentations in class, a mid-term paper in Chinese on the Mcdonald』s restaurants (3 pages), and a final paper in English written by groups of three on signs of McDonaldization in other sectors of our society (6-10 pages).

Text

Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life. 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge P, 2000.

Other Readings

Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization Thesis. London: Sage, 1998, 1999.
Smart, Barry, ed. Resisting McDonaldization. London: Sage, 1999.
約翰洛夫。《麥當勞：經營管理的奇跡》。韓定國譯。臺北：博益，1987。
馬克思鮑斯、史提夫錢思。《麥當勞面面觀》。葉蕓君編譯。臺北：項淵，1987。
非常有用的網站— http://www.geocities.com/mcdonaldization/ （各組輪流報告網頁）

Tentative Schedule