FREE ESSAY ON APPLYING KARL MARX TO RITZER'S MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY

APPLYING KARL MARX TO RITZER'S MCDONALDIZATION OF SOCIETY

Tim Horgan
Cont. Soc.
Reflection
Karl Marx believed that a major revolution was in the future for the Western world.
Exactly how far in the future remains to be seen, but many would argue that capitalism is
as strong as it ever was and no class conflict will occur. I believe the reason that no
major conflict has yet occurred can be attributed to Weber's idea of bureaucratization as
described in The McDonaldization of Society. In bureaucracies, every movement by an
employee is a calculated one. There is a rule for every situation and every employee must
abide by the rules. Doing this allows bureaucracies to be extremely large yet efficient,
and more importantly, profitable.
These systems, however, dehumanize people, and that is part of what Karl Marx fears. When
workers are dehumanized and alienated they become restless and unhappy. Today, however,
it is not only the lower class laborers who are being affected. White-collar workers, as
well, must fall into line when working for a large corporate bureaucracy. It has become
the way of life for almost everyone. Work is work. Everyone has to fall into line. 
Since the distinction, now, between those workers alienated and those who are not is a
very blurred line, a class conflict would be difficult to see coming. Another reason that
this conflict may never come is because of the positive sides of a bureaucratic world. In
this world, many unskilled workers can get a decent job with a decent amount of
responsibility attached to it and make a decent pay check. All they can do is decent, but
that is better than not being able to do anything. Secondly, because of the bureaucracies
and the good wages they provide for unskilled workers, many more products are available
to all people. The bureaucracies allow for mass production of many products and with many
people making a steady paycheck, they can afford something that would be extremely
expensive without bureaucracies, such as televisions or automobiles. 
It is still to early, however, to count Karl Marx out. The "workers as robots" situation
which occurs in the workplace can still be enough to fuel a class conflict or revolution,
but the many changes that have been made to society since the time of Marx have been
enough to push it back. The one main reason I believe that a social upheaval is still
possible is because those people who are on top of the bureaucracies tend to stay on top,
while those in the bottom stay on the bottom. It is possible, in this day and age, for
someone to work their way up the ladder and be successful but it is much easier for
someone to be simply brought to the top and then stay there. In bureaucracies, hard work
is often rewarded, as well it should be, however, if hard work does not meet with
rewards, then that employee will probably not work as hard next time. Thus, the
bureaucracies suffer, and when they do those on the bottom will feel it first. That could
very well be the first shot of the revolution.
Bibliography
Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Pine Forge Press. 2000
Stones, Rob. Key Sociological Thinkers. NYU Press. 1998