Sierra Roller

Sociology 101.010
November 17, 2014

Rationalization is a result of scientific and technological advances in the world. By

reducing the traditions of society, rationalization led to new practices that were unjust. (this
should be the thesis sentence, with more paraphrases and attached at the end of the
paragraph.) Instead of humanity being motivated by customs and traditions, rationalization led
to behaviors that were developed by the use of these technological and scientific advances. These
behaviors were used as a defense mechanism, although they were unacceptable. Like Max Weber
says in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the modern spirit of capitalism sees
profit as an end in itself. Webers intent is to discover religion as a possible source of the
modern economic conditions.
McDonalization is when a culture adapts the characteristics of a fast food restaurant.
(statement is too direct and has no transition.) These characteristics
(List off characteristics here) include the globalization of politics. McDonaldization
conceptualizes rationalization by moving traditional thoughts to rational thoughts. The concept
of McDonaldization is gaining attention throughout many cultures. Like Benjamin Barber stated
in his article Jihad vs. McWorld, four imperatives make up the economic dynamics of the
world. These four imperatives are the market imperative, the resource imperative, the
information-technology imperative, and the ecological imperative. As a result of these
imperatives, globalization increased throughout the world. This is what is known as the McWorld
affect. (Entire paragraph could use paraphrases or transitional words in between
sentences.)

The documentary The Corporation professionally presents legitimate facts of the allpervasive role that the corporations of the world have taken on. Corporations initially started as
something for the public good. Yet, (yay! Finally, a transition word) corporations have
veered away from their role as a social advancement. The corporations of McWorld are only
concerned about one thing: profit. Every decision is based upon the viewpoint of the economy
and not what is best for the public. In McWorld, everything is commoditized. If a profit cannot
be made, there is no point in trying. McWorld is slowly transforming the world to be smaller and
less diverse, turning all beliefs of people into one big section of consumers. In The Corporation
documentary, people are defined by material goods and not by morals. (How are these two
sentences related? Need to be described in a closing sentence.)
Personally, I think rationalization is expanding out of control. (explain?) After reading
and viewing these sources that prove consumerism to be true, standard life has become to be
measured by a quantitative manner. This dehumanizes the rationality of society today and could
possible become destructive. Therefore, I think that rationalization is a terrifying thing.