Ritzer’s concept of McDonaldisation is a well-known phenomenon that’s characteristic of modernity and modern societies and there are a range of simple resources that can be used to get the idea across to students:
This poster, for example, identifies and outlines 5 distinctive processes in the rationalisation of society and culture.
This textbook has a short section (Focus on Research, page 20) that applies the concept to Higher Education.
This PowerPoint includes McDonaldisation (among other useful things) linked into ideas about global culture.
Global Homogeneity or Diversity is an exercise that uses McDonaldisation to illustrate the homogeneity side of the argument.
Finally, “Our fake book exposed Amazon’s fatal flaw” is an article that provides a contemporary example of the application of McDonaldisation on a global scale and proves, once again, that Amazon is the sociological gift that just keeps on giving…
