Unwrapping the McDonald's model: An introduction to dynamic social theory

George Ritzer's famous McDonaldization thesis describes how principles used by this fast-food chain dominate many sectors of society. First published by the Journal of American Culture in 1983 in the article “The ‘McDonaldization’ of Society,” the thesis developed Max Weber's argument that bureaucracy and capitalism trap people in an “iron cage” (stahlhartes Gehäuse) of rationality. Ritzer showed how Max Weber's characteristics of rationalized systems—efficiency, predictability, calculability, the substitution of non-human for human technology, and control over uncertainty—are used in many areas of society, including the “predictability and uniformity of work on the “academic assembly line” (Ritzer, 1998, 49). Ritzer tells a good story about how corporate rationalization spread across the world, through “such disparate phenomena as fast food restaurants, TV dinners, package tours, industrial robots, plea bargaining, and open-heart surgery on an assembly-line basis” (Ritzer, 1983, 100). He correctly anticipated the beginning of a “process that promises even more extraordinary changes” (100). His 20th anniversary edition predicted the “most likely scenario is the continued expansion of the McDonaldization of society” (Ritzer, 2013, x). And so it proved. Since 1983, McDonald's has grown from fewer than 10,000 outlets to about 40,275 locations in over 100 markets by 2023, while its stock (share) price has risen from US$1.12 ($3.38 in 2023 values) to US$270.00 in March 2023, giving it a market capitalization of almost $200bn as the world's 46th most valuable company (Google Finance)—see Figure 1. However insightful, Ritzer's analysis does not enable people to solve social problems or improve society. If anything, it paralyzes people into believing McDonaldization is an unstoppable behemoth they are powerless to influence. In their controversial book, Usable Knowledge: Social Science and Social Problem Solving, Charles Lindblom and David Cohen lamented “the relatively thoughtless wastefulness” of much social research that is “a positive obstruction to social problem solving” (Lindblom & Cohen, 1979, 86). The eminent sociologist Jonathan Turner observed that research “has become increasingly an end in itself without reference to the accumulation of knowledge or to the theoretical cumulation that comes with systematic tests of theories” (Turner, 2001, 10). Five years later, in The Production of Knowledge: The Challenge of Social Science Research, William Starbuck observed that “Hundreds of thousands of talented researchers are producing little of lasting value” because they are focused on producing journal articles rather than knowledge (2006, 5; 142). This futility is compounded by the inability to replicate many social science experiments, and the fact that papers on non-replicable findings are cited more than replicable ones (Serra-Garcia & Gneezy, 2021). The problem is that the “academic assembly line” criticized by Ritzer creates a culture of social science that separates research from social practice, reducing impact (Bastow et al., 2014, 54; 100–4). It does not have to be like this. Social sciences offer many insightful methods and findings to improve society. In How Social Science Got Better Max Grossman says, “social science will play an important part in the human future,” though it “can make no claim from its own studies that its insights will be usefully incorporated into public opinion or governance” (Grossman, 2021, 250-1). For their insights to be used, social scientists need to help people use knowledge better, as advocated by Chris Argyris et al. through “Action Science” (1985). Lindblom and Cohen point out that “Much of the world's work of problem solving is accomplished not through PSI [professional social inquiry] but through ordinary knowledge, through social learning, and through interactive problem solving” (Lindblom & Cohen, 1979, 91). This essay addresses the challenge posed by Ritzer's conclusion— “What is needed is not a less rational society, but greater control over the process of rationalization involving, among other things, efforts to ameliorate its irrational consequences” (1983, 107)—by showing how social research can empower people to improve society by working on institutions as social models, equivalent to theories in the physical sciences. To show how people can be empowered, social scientists can learn from one sector that actively uses social research to transform the world—business. Like Ritzer, this paper uses McDonald's to illustrate a thesis, which is that institutions are everyday social experiments that embody knowledge about how to do things in society. An institution may be defined as any pattern of behavior that continues over time. This is a simpler definition than most, closer to new institutionalism (Lowndes & Roberts, 2013). It is closest to Samuel Huntington's definition of institutions as “stable, valued, recurring patterns of behavior” (1973, 12). This definition is consistent with Hodgson's “systems of rules that structure social interactions” where “rules include norms of behaviour and social conventions” (Hodgson, 2015, 501). It covers the wide range of recurring patterns of behavior instituted by people to meet perceived needs, from social norms to global governance. Large institutions are made up of countless smaller units, each of which is a mini-institution. These in turn contain micro-institutions—the rituals, routines, rules, and norms that make it work. Every institution is a social model, which is replicated, imitated, or modified to produce a range of social outcomes. A social model is never static yet embodies behaviors and knowledge that may persist for generations. It may be seen as a “dynamic social theory” which is tested and developed in reality every day. Most institutions have more complex aims than McDonald's, but it provides a useful illustration of general principles. McDonald's has ancient antecedents. The institution of fast food can be traced from the dawn of civilization (Freedman, 2007; Higman, 2011). Ancient Greeks described the Egyptian custom of frying and selling fish in the streets of the port city of Alexandria. The custom spread across the Roman world and developed numerous variations to meet the needs of different communities, climates, and cultures. Excavations at Pompeii show well-preserved remains of thermopolia (Latin for “places where hot is sold”), forerunners of McDonald's. Over the centuries people have imitated, modified, replicated, and reinvented models of how to provide food fast and earn a living. The McDonald brothers entered the fast food business in 1937 after they observed the success of a hot dog cart across the street from where they worked. Their model has been replicated, refined, and reformulated since 1940, from one burger restaurant in San Bernardino, California, to their “Speedee Service System” and first franchise in 1952, burgeoning to over 40,275 restaurants worldwide in 2022 (Statista Research Department, 2023), second in size only to Subway's 42,998 outlets (Chepekmoi, 2019). The model includes rigorous processes to review and renew both its internal operations and external relationships to produce broadly predictable outcomes. Like a theory in the natural sciences, McDonald's is a replicable model of an aspect of reality that enables many people to achieve specific outcomes—meals, celebrations, employment, identity, returns on investment, status, et cetera. The McDonald's formula includes carefully calibrated actions to ensure consistent outcomes across continents (see, for example, Daszkowski, 2019). Just as space travel depends on the laws of physics being the same everywhere, McDonald's relies on consistency across the many regimes where it operates, including sufficient consumer demand, individuals with entrepreneurial experience and financial resources to run a franchise, reliable supply chains, a robust legal framework, and a regulatory environment. Lindblom and Cohen suggested that policy frameworks which make this stability possible are equivalent to Thomas Kuhn's paradigms in natural science (Lindblom & Cohen, 1979, 77). Despite wide differences between China, India, and the USA, the commercial environments of these countries are sufficiently similar for the McDonald's model to flourish. Although the core outputs (cheap fast food) have stayed relatively consistent over time, the model itself has changed substantially in response to changes in competition, culture, accounting, environmental concerns, investments, laws, labor conditions, and social norms, as well as internal innovation. As a result, many aspects are very different from 1952. McDonald's now offers halal, vegetarian, and even vegan options. It fulfills different social functions in different locations, from the grab-and-go drive-through in America to places where people hang out with friends in Taiwan. It advertises through social media more than billboards. It is owned by corporate investors rather than two brothers. But it would disappear entirely if it failed to adapt. So long as McDonald's delivers outcomes people want and is financially successful, its evolving model will be widely studied by business students, entrepreneurs, and investors as well as critics (Battye, 2018; Gregory, 2017; Profitworks, n.d.; Smart, 1999; Thompson, 2022). Closer analysis shows how the distinct layers of knowledge embodied in McDonald's contribute to its cultural and economic power. Understanding these layers can help citizens and social scientists to produce outcomes more important than burgers. But first, it is worth considering why an institution can be seen as equivalent to a theory in the natural sciences. Theories are models of reality based on analysis of evidence. Good scientific models enable people to achieve predictable outcomes, generate new knowledge, and unlock the power of nature. Social sciences have no equivalent method of modeling social reality to unlock the potential of human societies. Indeed, the very concept of theory in social and political sciences is contested. In his Handbook of Sociological Theory, Turner observed “there is no consensus over how sociology should proceed to explain the social world.” It has “what can only be described as hyperdifferentiation of theories,” each of which “has a resource base of adherents, a place in academia, and a series of outlets for scholarly publications” (Turner, 2006, 1). It is hard for social science to give us theoretical models of reality that can be consistently relied on because society is constantly changing and the theories themselves influence people's behavior. 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