Supersize Me...Not

Currently in class we are learning about organizations in general, what they are, and what they mean.  An organization was said to be in the most general terms a collection of people and or resources working together to achieve a common goal.  We talked specifically about organizations as a machine. Meaning that we work should be based off of efficiency.  I’m not saying machine will eventually replace man, like noted in the movie The Terminator  and start an all out nuclear war, decimating any remaining humans, but instead in order to function more efficiently we must work like a machine.  The organization that works like a machine in essence becomes one.

Personally I don’t like McDonald’s or any fast food for that matter but McDonald’s has found a way to be successful in society despite feeding its customers poison, however that is a whole different matter not worth discussing right now.  How did they do this you may ask?  As an organization they function like a machine.  They are speedy, efficient, and work almost like an assembly line.  Similar to mass other mass producing manufacturers McDonald’s is meant to work at the most efficient pace while expending the fewest resources (maybe why their food tastes like dirt).  To say the least we are seeing what is been coined the McDonaldization effect on society take place.  We see it in a lot of everyday life organizations.   Sociologist George Ritzer coined the term McDonaldization as the process by which the principles of fast food chains are coming to dominate the social world.  He went on to note that there are four key components for McDonaldization, and they are efficiency, calculability, predictability and control.

When the McDonaldization approach is used on criminal justice we see some positive notions.  Sure we want the justice system to be efficient for obvious reasons.  If it wasn’t efficient then how would we keep society from becoming chaotic?  The criminal justice system needs to be calculable, based on the notion that what we do can be measured and experimented on, and thus resulting in an effort to improve or maintain normal functions.  It’s important for criminal justice to be predictable, because in my opinion that’s a segway into deterrence.  If you can predict that if you get caught you will go to jail, then there’s a less likely chance you will offend.  Lastly, control is important because we want to do just that, control society, but by doing so, keeping it safe.

However many negatives can come out of these components, the most glaring being that because of the McDonaldization effect criminal justice is so focused on these four components it will rest at nothing to achieve the most out of each even if it means that justice itself takes a back seat.  Regarding calculability, take for example the prison situation.  Our outlook on the get tough on crime advocates throwing everybody in jail.  This obviously leads to overcrowding and let’s be honest, there are some crimes that shouldn’t require jail time, but are receiving it.  Take the example of selective observation for police work in the predictability component.  Police predict that all cars that have rims and blast loud music are going to commit or are involved in crime.  This may be true, but some other crime may be overlooked.  The control component can be seen as faulty when you look at prisons being built.  McDonald’s tricks people into paying larger amounts for larger portions of fries, i.e. supersize.  Same is true with super-max prisons.  A good portion of these offenders end up back in society but tax payers still pay the outrageous cost to institutionalize them in the fancy new multi-million dollar prisons.

Is McDonaldization really efficient? It does bring some positive aspects to the criminal justice system, but at the same time certain components of justice are overlooked.  We have to find a happy medium of the most efficient way to carry out justice.

http://www.justiceblind.com/new/mcds.htm