| Contributed Resources about McDonaldization In addition to the SAGE Research articles that have been provided to correlate with The McDonaldization of Society 5, several scholars have also given us permission to share their articles on this site. Please click on the article names below to see the full-text articles. We've included the abstracts for each article below to give you a preview of the content. We hope these articles will help you see the kinds of literature that has been written as a result of George Ritzer's The McDonaldization of Society. From McDonalds to Ebay as a Metaphor for Our Times by Aaron Ahuvia From Creeds to Burgers: religious control, spiritual search, and the future of the world by John Drane The Globalization of Spirituality by John Drane Abstract: Today's students have grown up in a world structured by the forces of rationalization, making it difficult for them to comprehend the scope and magnitude of the transformations Weber described. In this paper, we outline a plan for helping students appreciate Weber's theoretical achievements, as well as teaching them to think more critically about what constitutes the "good life" in rationalized societies. We use Ritzer's best-selling book, The McDonaldization of Society, as a vehicle for encouraging students' interest in Weber's work. We describe a set of field exercises that bring Weber to life and provide rich material for active learning. Abstract: This paper presents a sociological synthesis of critical pedagogy and andragogical teaching techniques for a multidisciplinary classroom. Field research was conducted by undergraduate students at a popular social setting: local urban and suburban malls. The objective of the assignment was to explore critically the basic sociological concepts of stratification along such dimensions as race, class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. By extending classroom heuristics into the social world of "everyday life," this approach enables students to explore a familiar social place—the postindustrial shrine to American consumption culture— through the critical lens of the sociological imagination. The application of sociological principles learned in the classroom to the larger community or "real world" helps to enhance the relevance of sociology as a scientific discipline to students when they return to the traditional academic setting. Although the paper is based on experiences from a multidisciplinary class (N=63) that was not trained in qualitative research techniques, the assignment can be utilized effectively in more advanced undergraduate and graduate coursts, including research methods classes. "Theorizing/Resisting McDonaldization: A Multiperspectivist Approach" in Resisting McDonaldization, edited by Barry Smart.
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