Sociology and Social Science Assignment
Added on 2020-03-16
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Running head: SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCESOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCEName of the StudentName of the UniversityAuthor note
1SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCEThe essay deals with the chosen two broad themes of the contemporary society,Mcdonaldization and Consumerism. It makes a comparison and contrast between the two chosenthemes, in the context of different perspectives like the scope of study, its analysis andmethodology. The term McDonaldization, has been invented byGeorge Ritzer for the purpose ofdescribing a Sociological phenomenon, which is happening in the contemporary society (Ritzer& Stepnisky, 2017). The major dimensions given by George Ritzer, with regard toMcDonaldization: Calculability implies the assessment of the outcome based on the quantifiable standardsinstead of the subjective areas. In short, it can be said that quantity would be focused rather thanthe quality. For example, ‘BigMac’ would preferably be sold, instead of‘GoodMac’. Efficiencyimplies themost favorabletechnique of completion of a task. It has been the processof determining the most favorable method of production. Individuality has not been permissible. Control implies the process of substituting more conventional labor that does not involve humaneffort, in the place of human labor, through the replacement of work force or by automation.Predictabilityimplies that the process of production is organized for the purpose of guaranteeingthe consistency or homogeny of the product as well as their standardized results. Consequently,every shopping mall begins to appear similar and the existing highways have similar businessassortment. On the other hand, Consumerism can be explained as the promotion of interest of theconsumer. It is the ideology or culture of extreme consumption of services or material goods. Itis presumed that a nation which consumes services and goods in huge quantities will be in a
2SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCEbetter position economically. An example can be taken with reference to consumerism that, in anadvanced industrial society, a huge quantity of goods are sold and bought.It has often been called as a policy, which promotes greediness (Baudrillard, 2016). Consumerism has also been formulated as a movement contributing to consumerprotection that helps in promoting improvement in the advertisement, truthful packaging as wellas in development of safety standards (de, Copeland & Bimber, 2014). Consumerism seeks theenforcement of laws that do not favor unfair practices as well as promote the implementation ofproduct guarantees.Thetwothemesofcontemporarysociety chosen were Mcdonaldization andConsumerism.George Ritzer was asked about his ideas regarding the global consumption of theuniversities, specifically relating to the modern universities. In reply, he stated that, he oftencalled the modern universities as ‘Mc Universities’. Which meant that, it had McDonaldized theprocess of education by stressing on predictability, efficiency, control and calculability. As aresult, it has helped in the creation of a system of mass education, but the irrationalities of therationalities of the said systems are that they have an effect on the educational quality as well asthe quality of the systems of education, in a negative way (Carroll, 2013).A resemblance has been evidenced due to the effects of the restaurants dealing with fastfood, on the food quality (a ‘Big Mac’ would be sold instead of a ‘Delicious Mac’). The policytends to make universities to support the existing state of affairs rather than going against it(Ritzer, 2015). According to Ritzer, McUniversities are rapidly monopolizing the knowledge and itsdistribution. His latest work dealt with ‘prosumption’, which means the combination of
3SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE‘consumption’ and ‘production’. The students were ‘prosumers’ of the knowledge. Knowledge isconsumed by the students and produced in such a way that are distinctive to each one of them.Students, not only being passive consumers of the offerings of the system, they also activelyproduce and reveal the knowledge they have (Dustin, 2016).Incidentally, the backdrop in recent times, for prosumer has been the Internet, where thepeople evidently prosume, in social networks, like Facebook, in blogs, and others. In thecathedral of consumption, the people are on the verge of being more and more prosumers, wherethe people being the ‘consumers’ are doing additional work that were done by the paid workersonce. An example can be taken of the work, which is done by the people, in recent times, at theshopping mall, fast food joints, home accessory shops, et cetera. It has recently been argued that the people have been living in a world that is based on‘prosumer capitalism’ where the capitalist have a preference of inadequately paid or unpaidprosumers instead of paid workers. A suitable example in this context would be ‘Uber’. Thenumbers of conventional cab drivers are falling as a consequence of the increase in prosumerswho work for cab services like Uber.At the times when books or other products are being ordered in shopping websites likeAmazon, EBay, and others, the people are not only engaged in the consumption of books, butalso they have been engaged in the process of production of, personal orders, without payment.In consequence, it has been evidenced that, there has been a steep fall or reduction in the numberof bookstores and in the number of people who had been working there. Hence, new capitalists like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg have increased, who becameor are on the verge of becoming multi billionaires by the replacement of paid workers with
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