Examples of McDonaldized organizations and industries

See page 108 of the book.

The McDonaldization of Society suggests that the working practices of the fast-food restaurant are used in many other industries and areas of society. The following articles all suggest that their respective industries have, in some way, become McDonaldized:

Education: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/battle-in-illinois-over-t_b_8509212.html

Social work: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2008/may/28/socialcare

Fitness: http://news.nationalpost.com/health/fast-food-fitness-dominates-gyms-as-experts-decry-mcdonaldization-of-exercise-classes-in-new-study

Nursing: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/cagayan-de-oro/lifestyle/2015/10/26/mcdonaldization-nurses-438027

Indoor climbing: http://fortune.com/2015/09/28/the-cliffs-at-lic-gym-indoor-rock-climbing/

Religion: http://www.religionnews.com/2014/03/27/slow-church-movement-fights-mcdonaldization-church/

 

Working in the fast-food industry

See page 108-109 of the book.

These two articles look at work in the fast-food industry, so-called ‘McJobs’, examining both positive and negative aspects of this type of work:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-32283560

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-norquay/what-i-learned-four-years-working-at-mcdonalds_b_8682928.html

 

Amazon Go

See page 119 of the book.

The Amazon Go shop can be seen at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B10Edqo-gLU

 

Adidas Speedfactory

See page 122 of the book

The Adidas Speedfactory can be seen at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXn2AlHOU_g  

 

Jobs at risk from automation

See page 124 of the book.

On page 124 there is a small extract (table 4.3) from Frey and Osbourne’s analysis of which jobs are at risk from automation.

The full table of 702 jobs can be seen in their report at:

https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:4ed9f1bd-27e9-4e30-997e-5fc8405b0491/download_file?safe_filename=future-of-employment.pdf&file_format=application%2Fpdf&type_of_work=Journal+article

The above report is open-access; a more recent firewalled version is at:

Frey, C.B. and Osborne, M.A., 2017. The future of employment: how susceptible are jobs to computerisation?. Technological forecasting and social change, 114, pp.254-280.

 

The Uber game

See page 127 of the book

The following simulation game from the Financial Times puts you in the position of an Uber driver. There are many decisions that you have to make, all of which show how precarious this type of gig economy work can be. The game can be played at:

https://ig.ft.com/uber-game/