Discussion Classical and Contemporary Sociological Theory

Respond to the following student responses provided based on the following Prompts (Each Response should be 137 words)

Prompt: Discuss Ritzers five dimensions of the McDonaldization of society. What are the implications of this phenomenon for the individual in society? Discuss how these are experienced today.

Student Response 1 (Chris)

I worked in fast food in high school; I worked at taco bell.  While I know what goes in the food and how it is made, I still eat it because it is tasty.  (not but a few times a year I might add)
Anyhow, McDonaldization is a great term for cheap labor, crappy products.  I do not eat at McDonald’s.  As a kid, I thought it was the greatest place ever.  In my humble opinion, I have always viewed fast food as a high school kid job.  While people do stay in that profession and move up the corporate ladder, I always viewed working the grill as unskilled labor.  It is, to a certain degree.  Until recently, no one really gave much thought to the front fast-food worker, that was until they made their case for fifteen dollar minimum wage.  Well look what happened, there are now kiosks in the stores where you place your own order.  Why?  These companies decided to cut costs since they would potentially have to pay a person fifteen bucks an hour to flip a burger. 
While I am not a social theorist and I do not pretend to be, I do observe from time to time.  Here is something to ponder; why do fast food restaurants accept SNAP and EBT?  We all know that those places are completely devoid of any nutritional value and chocked full of heart-killing sodium.
It’s a real question, and in my humble assessment, a real problem.

Student Response 2 (Jaylyn)
The five dimensions of the McDonaldization of society are efficiency, calculability, predictability, control through nonhuman technology, and irrationality of rationality. Efficiency is being able to reach a specific endpoint quickly with the least amount of effort and cost. Calculability involves an emphasis on things that can be calculated or counted. Predictability is the attempt to structure the environment. The control through nonhuman technology is employees become standardized and replaced by technology. The irrationality of rationality is the denial of basic humanity. Technology is taking over the world day by day. A lot of work in factories has been taken over by technology. Work that was once done by humans is now being done by machines. This is even happening in grocery stores. At my local Walmart, they just made some upgrades. Those who were cashiers are no longer cashiers because they took all the registers out and made them into self-checkouts.