Introducing Sociology Using the Stuff of Everyday Life

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Chapter 3 – Fast-Food Blues: Work in a Global Economy

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, we shift away from the perspective of the consumer to look at the people who work in the global food economy. Through an in-depth look at the fast-food industry, we explore sociological approaches to work, with a particular focus on concepts of wage labor, alienation, class, ideology, and hegemony. Profiling the research method of ethnography, we consider how macrosociological processes like the rise of transnational corporations shape everyday experiences and interactions among workers. We also discuss the theory of McDonaldization, which extends Weber’s famous writings on the iron cage of bureaucracy and presents the fast-food icon as a model for rational, efficient, predictable workplaces. Finally, we highlight some key challenges facing workers, particularly as they struggle to improve working conditions in the fast-food industry.

Further Reading

Royle, Tony, and Yvonne Rueckert. 2022. “McStrike! Framing, (Political) Opportunity and the Development of a Collective Identity: McDonald’s and the UK Fast-Food Rights Campaign.” Work, Employment and Society 36(3):407–26. doi: 10.1177/0950017020959264.

This article explores how McDonald’s UK workers developed a collective identity during

the Fast-Food Rights (FFR) campaign. The campaign began in 2014, inspired by movements like the US-based Fight for $15, with the aim of improving wages and working conditions for fast-food workers. Despite the fragmented nature of the workforce, the study highlights how workers used framing to recognize and articulate their grievances and form solutions collectively. The authors emphasize the importance of political and media support, as well as the role of worker leaders in shaping collective identity and mobilizing action.

Discussion questions
  • How did framing contribute to the success of the FFR campaign? Which frames were most powerful and why?
  • What external factors, such as media coverage or public support, contributed to the workers’ ability to mobilize?
  • What challenges did the workers face in building solidarity given the diversity of their backgrounds, including students, economic migrants, and second-income earners?
  • What lessons can be learned from the FFR campaign in terms of organizing fragmented and insecure workforces in other industries?

Ritzer, George, and Steven Miles. 2019. “The Changing Nature of Consumption and the Intensification of McDonaldization in the Digital Age.” Journal of Consumer Culture 19(1):3–20. doi: 10.1177/1469540518818628.

In an update to George Ritzer’s (1993) McDonaldization thesis, this article argues the rationalization characteristic of fast-food establishments—defined by efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control—has intensified with the rise of digital consumption platforms. They compare traditional brick-and-mortar businesses like McDonald’s and Wal-Mart to digital giants like Amazon, noting that digital platforms more effectively embody McDonaldization principles by automating processes and reducing human involvement. The authors emphasize that digital consumption turns consumers into “prosumers” (see Chapters 9 and 10), who simultaneously produce and consume, further streamlining the consumption process. Overall, they suggest that McDonaldization is even more relevant in the digital age, profoundly reshaping and rationalizing social and economic relations.

Discussion questions
  • How has the concept of McDonaldization evolved since the advent of digital consumption platforms like Amazon?
  • In what ways does the drive for hyper-efficiency in digital economies lead to “irrational” outcomes, such as overconsumption or labor exploitation on gig economy platforms?
  • What are some key differences and similarities between brick-and-mortar and platform-based digital businesses as they relate to McDonaldization principles?
  • Do you agree with the authors’ argument that digital consumption intensifies McDonaldization?
    • Can the McDonaldization framework account for the personalization and customization options increasingly available on digital platforms, which contrast previous emphases on standardization?
    • Does McDonaldization capture the fluid and flexible nature of contemporary work environments, which contrast with the rigid control and predictability of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses?
  • Can you think of any contemporary challenges to McDonaldization? How effective are they?

Pachirat, Timothy. 2011. Every Twelve Seconds: Industrialized Slaughter and the Politics of Sight. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Chapter 1, “Hidden in Plain Sight.”

The opening chapter of “Every Twelve Seconds” explores the ways that industrialized slaughterhouses are hidden, both physically and socially. Drawing on extensive ethnographic research, Pachirat argues that this separation allows society to consume meat without confronting the violence and labor behind its production. He examines how this concealment is a form of power that shields morally and physically repugnant processes from public view. The chapter also draws parallels between slaughterhouses and other institutions where violence is hidden, such as prisons and war, emphasizing the role of distance in maintaining societal complicity.

Discussion questions
  • How does the concealment of slaughterhouse practices affect our understandings of meat consumption?
  • What are the ethical implications of delegating the violent act of killing to certain groups, such as immigrants and low-wage workers? Who benefits from industrial animal agriculture?
  • How does the invisibility of slaughterhouse work reflect and reinforce broader racial and class inequalities? In what ways are marginalized groups disproportionately impacted by the dangerous and dehumanizing work in slaughterhouses?
  • How can exposing the hidden realities of slaughterhouses lead to political or social transformation? Do you see this “politics of sight” in broader movements that aim to make concealed forms of violence visible (e.g., environmental activism, labor rights)?

Quizzes

Test your knowledge with the Chapter 3 quizzes!

Quiz

Active Learning – Further Online Resources

A spy in the slaughterhouse:

Read this interview with Timothy Pachirat to learn more about his ethnographic research at an industrial slaughterhouse in Kansas.

McWilliams, James. 2012. “A Spy in the Slaughterhouse.” The Atlantic, 5 June 2012. Accessed 28 June 2014.   www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/06/a-spy-in-the-slaughterhouse/258110/

Walmarts of higher ed?

In this article in the Atlantic, Timothy Pratt explores the concern that a university education is becoming increasingly organized around market principles—a shift that some suggest is creating “Walmarts of higher education”. Pratt, Timothy. 2013. “We are creating Walmarts of higher education.” The Atlantic, 26 December 2013. Accessed 21 June 2014.   www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/we-are-creating-walmarts-of-higher-education/282619/

Flashcards

Refresh your knowledge of key terms with this chapter’s flashcards.

Capitalism

An economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and oriented towards the generation of profit for reinvestment or private gain

Class

People who share similar levels of income, wealth, education, occupational prestige, lifestyle, taste, social status, and/or access to material goods and services within systems of social stratification

Proletariat

Karl Marx’s term for the class under capitalism that owns only its labour; i.e., workers

Bourgeoisie

Karl Marx’s term for the class under capitalism that owns the means of production; i.e., capitalists

Means of production

Karl Marx’s term for the physical and material resources (e.g., factories, tools, land) required to produce goods and services. In Marxist theory, control over the means of production is what defines class relations in capitalist societies

Alienation

A feeling of disconnection or estrangement often associated with work under capitalist conditions. Marx identified four forms of alienation: alientation from the fruits of one’s labour, the labour process, other workers, and human creativity

Wage labour

A relationship in which a worker sells his or her labor to an employer in return for an agreed-upon monetary return

Commodity fetishism

A Marxist term describing how various facets of production are obscured at the final end-point of consumption

Ethnography

A sociological research method in which the researcher observes and/or interacts with people in everyday contexts in order to describe and interpret actions, settings, experiences, or ways of life from an insider’s perspective

Social location

An individual’s position within various overlapping social groups, such as gender, age, race, class, sexuality, religion, and language

Transnational corporations (TNCs)

Business enterprises that span national boundaries, and control assets, manage production, and/or deliver goods and services in multiple geographic locations

Commodity chain

The path that a commodity takes from its conception and design, to its manufacturing, retailing, and consumption, to its final end as a waste product

Global North/Global South

Terms used to differentiate countries of relative industrialization, development, and wealth in the global political economy. Global North countries are relatively rich and powerful, whereas countries in the Global South have large poor populations and less clout in the international system

Ideology

A set of beliefs, opinions, images, and attitudes that form a loose set of related ideas. In Marxist theory, the term is used to describe ideas that are in some sense distorted, false, and disguise an underlying inequality or exploitation (e.g. sexist ideologies)

Hegemony

Antonio Gramsci’s term for ideas that reinforce relationships of domination and exploitation, and become embedded in common sense

McDonaldization

George Ritzer’s term for the process by which a wide variety of social actors and institutions have adopted the business principles of fast-food restaurants. Ritzer identifies five main features of McDonaldization: efficiency, calculability, predictability, control, and the irrationality of rationality

Bureaucracy

An organizational form and mode of administration that operates according to set rules and procedures and is a defining characteristic of modern life

Iron cage of rationality

Weber’s term for the human-made forces constraining individual freedom in highly complex and technologically advanced societies, especially the rational, rule-bound practices of bureaucratic institutions

Efficiency (McDonaldization)

The effort to discover the best possible means to whatever end is desired

Calculability (McDonaldization)

Efforts to measure all elements in the production process

Predictability (McDonaldization)

Ensuring that the settings, procedure, and production in a McDonaldized system are consistent across time and place

Control (McDonaldization)

The use of technology to control the behaviour of workers and consumers

Social movements

Groups of people and the activities they undertake to work together to make a particular social change

Resource mobilization

A perspective for understanding social movements that emphasizes the importance of resources for successful social change projects

Framing

Presenting ideas and information in ways that emphasize certain aspects and minimize other aspects so as to promote a particular way of understanding. Influences whether audiences will understand something as a social problem, how a problem should be addressed, and who is responsible for creating the problem

Political process model

A perspective for understanding social change that focuses on the political opportunities available to social movements; suggests that well-resourced, well-organized agents of change also require opportunities to make change