Rational Yet Easy

"Rational yet Easy"

George Ritzer draws on the work of Max Weber to describe his key concept Mcdonaldization. Mcdonaldization is a critique of modern capitalist society and its concern with rationality. MacLachlan defines rationalization as "rationalization as a means of reducing production capacity in markets hat are contracting or have become dominated by intensely competitive new entrant"(MacLachlan).The metaphor to McDonald's is used because it is a prime example of rationality at its worse. In our modern capitalist society, rationalization has taken priority with societies emphasizing the need for efficiency, predictability, calculability, substitution of nonhuman for human technology, and control. In discussing rationalization, I will outline key pieces of the film Roger and Me and the article "A Job on the Line" and how they show a critical analysis on the impact and Mcdonaldization.

Michael Moore's documentary Roger and Me address how lay-offs in General Motors, the world largest corporation, affect the people of Flint, Michigan. Moore through his quest to meet with Roger Smith, the CEO of GM, illustrates how Flint slowly turns into a ghost town. Ritzer states " the process of rationalization leads to a society in which a great deal of emphasis is placed on finding the best or optimum means to any given end"(Ritzer p. 372). GM set out to find the best and cheapest way to make their product. They found that when they placed their factories in locations like Mexico they could have longer hours and cheaper labor. GM being part of a capitalist society closed their factory in Flint and left 3,600 people unemployed. After this large layoff ,many people in Flint had nowhere to turn. The American government failed these workers in their failure to properly support those who were affected. Workers tried to look for other jobs, but they failed. The use of the assembly line eliminated the need of works to think creatively and work autonomously so, the lack the skills many other jobs were looking for. For example in the documentary, a Taco Bell representative stated GM workers got fired because they were to slow. So many people being left without jobs caused them to eventually lose their homes. Others who were not experiencing these problems didn't understand, some people interviewed said they taught these people were lazy and didn't want to find jobs. There were some attempts to revitalization Flint's economy but, they all failed. A Hyatt Regency was built, but it went bankrupted, the amusement park Auto World closed down only operating for six months GM sponsored a movie theater in Flint, which was just a way of distracting the masses on what was really occurring in society. The experiences of the people in Flint are similar Mollie James from the article A Job on the Line. Mollie who spends thirty-four years on the assembly line at Universal Manufacturing Company looses her job when the company relocates to Mexico. Balbina Duque's from Mexico receives Mollie's job. Balbina had to leave her family in order to get her job, which she earned right dollars a day compared to Mollie who earned $7.91 an hour. Balbina became a worker at MagneTek; formally known as Universal the same year Clinton signed the free trade agreement. The free trade agreement "enables companies to take advantage of 700,000 workers at 1,800 plants all along the border in ways that would not be tolerated in the United State" (Alder). Even working eight hours overtime twice or moor a week Balbina is still unable to make ends meet. By having these offshore factories companies are able to maximize their profits