Intro to "McDonaldization"

"McDonaldization...is the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world" (Ritzer 2000, 7). McDonaldization is present in nearly every aspect of society from Toys R Us, to USA Today. The late-night news program The Hour is a part of this McDonalized society, and we will further explore how and why this show is McDonalidized. The success of a McDonalized system lies in it's ability to produce these four components: efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through nonhuman technology.
_Efficiency
_Predictability
-Calculability,
-Control through nonhuman technology
"can be thought of as the basic components of a rational system. However, rational systems inevitably spawn irrationalities" (Ritzer 2000, 20). In this presentation we will outline the irrationalities of rationality within the McDonalized television show The Hour, through the use of the four components of McDonaldization (efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through nonhuman technology).

McDonaldization in brief

George Ritzer defines the phenomenon of McDonaldization as "the process by which the principle of the fast-food industry are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as the rest of the world" (Ritzer, p. 7). Four components are essential to the McDonaldization theory, and are as follows; efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through non human technology (Ritzer, p.16). McDonaldization can occur in varying degrees, and a McDonaldized service or commodity may or may not exhibit all four components in full (Ritzer, p.23).

George Ritzer, ed. "An Introduction to McDonaldization," McDonaldization: The Reader (Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge, 2002), 7-23.

Intro to "The Hour"

"The Hour is a national current affairs show on CBC television hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. It’s not a newscast. It’s not a magazine show. The Hour is a different take on the news through the lens of George and company. While news shows cover the issues of the day, The Hour dissects the issues within the issues. Always unconventional. Often controversial. Never predictable."

The show is a great example of "Mcdonalization" because of its entertaining delivery of news, the show delivers its stories in snippets with flashy graphics and multi media. The format is very quick, and the host speaks quickly through out the segments trying to get a lot of information to the viewer in a small frame of time. There for most news stories are mentioned but the issues are not delved into. George delieveres a quick over view of the top stories that are in the spot light for the day, adding his own style of news delivery with of sarcasim and a reminder of his own political view on the subject.

From politics to pop-culture

"The Hour is Canada's only late-night national tv show that covers everything from politics to pop culture. Every night host George Stroumboulopoulos reaches up to five million people. Over two seasons George has interviewed Al Gore, Bono, Noam Chomsky, Coldplay, Jesse Jackson,Martin Short, Ben Harper. The Hour invades your screen with the unconventional, quirky stories, new perspectives, and a vivid approach to issues of the day."
In his style of interviewing he is not affraid to ask tough questions of political figures and voice his opinion on th eissues at hand.

"McDonaldized" segments

The show is broken into bite size segments. Segments include:
News:

The panel van: A van drives around toronto armed with a tv and chairs, it grabs people off the street to interview them on a topic in today news, they show them a video clip and ask them to comment.


Closers: A over view of the days episode.

The list: A list of top five, this is the top five how to survive a breakup on valentines day, by one of the writters of the hour.


Bio: A short biography on a person in the show, in this case a bio from a themed episode on good verses evil. The bio of Satan.


Best story ever: Originally claimed to be an interview with an average person asking them to share "the best story ever", then turned into only celebrities giving their own versions of their best stories.

Interviews: A segment of interviews from politicians, to muscians.

Mile a minute: A very fast clip of a story in the news were George speaks very fast to cover the topic.


News stand: George takes the interview to the local store and inteviews in front of magazines using them to launch into the interview and allowing for spur of the moment questions.

Efficency- the optimum method from getting from one point to another

Efficency in the "Mcdonaldization" model is the optimum method from getting from one point to another(pg 17). Most people in todays society would agree that this is the ideal way to function in everyday life, there is less wasting of time. In theory this leaves the consumer with extra time in the day for more leisurely activities. The problem with a McDonaldized society is that efficiency is thrust upon a person so instead of choosing your own methods of efficiency, you are forced to accept the efficiency of the surrounding institutions.

"Ritzer uses the examples of salad bars: in essence, with a salad bar, you buy an empty plate, go to the bar and create the salad yourself. This is very efficient for the restaurant, but makes more work for the consumer. In other words you have to pay for the privilege of making your own salad."

Most would argue that in some cases this is more efficient, when you create your salad at the sald bar you recieve exactly what it is you want, there will be no mix up in your order and it will be done in the a timely manner of your choosing. Yet keep in mind, that this a reduction in the level of human interaction. Consumers are forced to deal with computers or salad bars and not people, training them to be better workers for the McDonaldized society.

How efficent is "The Hour"?

The hour delievers it's news in a very efficent manner. Short to the point topics, each with a heading so the viewer is aware of what is about to be discused. The segments are quick to allow more information to be projected to the viewer so there is little waste of air time.

So what is predictability anyway?

George Ritzer, in "An Introduction to McDonaldization" describes predictability as “the assurance that products and services will be the same over time” (Ritzer, p.17). The predictability component of McDonaldization allows the consumer to know exactly what to expect, no matter where they go particular products and services will be the same. Predictability offers the consumer a sense of comfort as it offers no surprises and well as a continuity that transcends a multitude of locations, not only nationally but on a global level.

Ritzer uses the Egg McMuffin as a prime example of predictability in the McDonaldized consumer market; he suggests that no matter where or when the product is purchased it will be the same, in taste, texture, temperature, and appearance (Ritzer, p.17). The behaviour of the McDonald’s employee is described as predictable; they are told how to do their jobs, how to deal with varying types of customers, and what to say to patrons. In many cases they have been taught scripted dialogue to be used when interacting with others (Ritzer, p.18).

It can be seen that predictability is an important aspect of McDonaldization theory, and has been widely applied in our society. Predictability prevails when looking at the McDonaldized commodity and can be observed in many modern consumer products and services; from McDonald’s itself to the modern television program, the predictability component has become rampant in daily consumer life.

What is The Hour & is it Predictable?

The Hour with George Strombolopolus claims to be a new spin on the traditional news show. It runs five nights per week, and is basically a news/talk show featuring interviews, news, pop culture, and political issues. The show covers everything from current and social concern issues to celebrities and music, all with in the span of one hour (minus ad breaks). The Hour displays all four aspects of McDonaldization, with predictability being an important factor of the show. According to the CBC, The Hour is “a national current affairs show on CBC television hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos. It’s not a newscast. It’s not a magazine show. The Hour is a different take on the news through the lens of George and company. While news shows cover the issues of the day, The Hour dissects the issues within the issues. Always unconventional. Often controversial. Never predictable.” Despite this claim, when looking more closely it can be seen that the show clearly is predictable in almost every way; from formatting to content to time slot, span, and ad breaks.

http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/

The Hour and The Predictability Factor

The Hour demonstrates predictability in a variety of ways. First of all, the format is highly predictable, each night viewers are treated to a short run through a daily news events, followed by an interview section; another recap of the day’s news is then presented (“Mile a Minute”). Generally, a second interview section follows the second news segment. The show closes with Georges’ “top five” for the day, which is a list of the top five blank. Along with the predictable format, other regular, yet less frequent segments air, such as “best story ever”. The show’s predictability is also demonstrated in the way each segment works; each is lead into with graphics, text, and sound; which unify the show, giving it an entire “look”. In the case of a celebrity interview a short biography is also provided.

The show’s tone is also predictable, as it is supposedly Georges’ take on the day’s news as well as current events; recurring themes such as social concern are presented. Light sarcasm can also be detected when the host is discussing issues that might be seen as flippant, such as celebrity gossip or news events he feels merit ridicule. Predictability can also be observed in the show’s setting; it is always filmed in font of a live audience and the physical set of the show is always the same. Interviews are generally conducted on set, with the exception of celebrity interviews, which are not live and appear to be taped.

Predictability is also demonstrated by the time frame of the show, when it can be viewed, and when ad breaks occur. The show is always one hour, with an approximated total of 10 minutes of ad breaks which occur at regular intervals; and it is always on at the same time of day. One might argue that the fact that it is available for viewing over the internet is a non-predictable aspect, but even this can be considered predictable as it is not available for download, and individuals can only watch entire episodes from the previous day through streaming.

What is Calculability?

Ritzer defines calculability as involving "an emphasis on things that can be calculated, counted, quantified. Quantification refers to a tendancy to emphasize quantity rather than quality. This leads to a sense that quality is equal to certain, usually (but not always) large quantities of things" (Ritzer 1994, 142 ) The title The Hour suggests to viewers that out of the 24 hours in a day, this is the hour of television to be watching. The name of this show has the viewer convinced from the start that if you want up-to-date national and international news, this is the hour to watch. Within this hour of television, George Stroumboulopoulos portrays the image that he is packing in as much information as he can into this hour; after all, quantity is equal to quality in the McDonaldization model. "A lot of something, or the quick delivery of it means it must be good" (Ritzer 2000, 16). In truth, Stroumboulopoulos is tricking the viewer into thinking they are getting a large quantity of news during the show through the use of: multiple graphics that quickly flash on the screen between segments accompanied by music that has a fast beat, segment titles such as "Mile-A-Minute" to emphasize how much information is condensed into a short period of time, and Stroumboulopoulos speaks quickly and uses body language to suggest that he is always on the move and is cramming in as much information as he possibly can into this hour, in order to fully inform the viewer.
Is the viewer being fully informed? Is quality present? No, Stroumboulopoulos touches on various issues (including politics, pop-culture, the environment, and current issues), but does not delve into any real detail. The Hour does, however, try to convince the viewer that they are getting to the bottom of issues and presenting the news in a detailed fashion with their claim "while news shows cover the issues of the day, The Hour dissects the issues within the issues." Stroumboulopoulos does not support this claim in his actions, as his news reports are short, un-analytical segments, knitted together with flashy graphics and fast paced music to delude the viewer, whispering "more is better!"
(show Mile-A-Minute segment)

sources:
Ritzer, George, "An Introduction to McDonaldization," pp.1-19 in The
McDonalidization of Society, 3rd ed, Pine Forge Press, 2000
Ritzer, George, Sociological Beginnings: On the Origins of Key Ideas in
Sociology, McGraw Hill, 1994

Dominant Ideology of The Hour

The dominant ideologies of The Hour are those of George Stroumboulopous, as is outlined on the website: "The Hour is a different take on the news through the lens of George and company." Stroumboulopous is passionate in his beliefs and ideologies and he uses his position on television as a "microphone" to voice what he believes. Here is a clip of Stroumboulopous interviewing Ben Harper. Stroumboulopous asks Harper questions which could be turned around and directed back at Stroumboulopous. He has had a respected career in television, and is now the anchor of a news show, he's in a position where people listen to what he says.

(show clip with Ben Harper)

The dominant ideologies present in The Hour as as follows:
-George Bush is not an intelligent man
-The environment is in need of our attention due to Global Warming
-Stroumboulopous is a liberal
-Stroumboulopous invites guests on his show that will be "open" to talking about relevent issues, not only their newest cd release (for example)
-pop-culture news about famous people is to be mocked, and not focused upon as much as our culture is accustomed to

He appears to try and be honest, and as much as his dominant ideologies are present in what he says, and in this show, he does re-itterate that his goal is not to control the viewer, but to challenge them with his view point. On Thursday, Jan. 19th Stroumbouloupous says, "Write a letter! Well, do what you want, merely a suggestion."

Control & Control Through NonHuman Technology

Control through nonhuman technology and control in general is used in the McDonaldization model to exert consistencey in both products and services (Ritzer p, 19). Direct examples of controlling elements can be taken from McDonald's restaurants to support this component of the theory; lines, limited menus, uncomfortable seats and drive-throughs all serve to control customers (Ritzer, p.18). Employees of the establishments are controlled through training, the threat of being replaced by machinery that can do their job more efficiently, and by technology that reduces human error, such as electronic cash registers and automated drink dispensers(Ritzer, p. 18).

When looking at The Hour as a McDonaldized commodity, it can be shown that it too employs a degree of control over its viewers. Viewers are controlled by when and how they can watch the program as it can only be viewed on television during specific time slots. Individuals who view the program via the internet are also controlled, the only episode that can be viewed in its entirety is that from the previous day. Despite the fact that The Hour's website offers numerous clips from the show, control is also exerted here in that viewers only have access to the clips provided, i.e. it is possible that the clip they wish to view is not available.

The Hour also exerts an element of control through its content. Individuals may be able to choose weather or not to watch the program, but those who do choose to watch have to say over the content of the show. Control through content can be compared to buying a Big Mac; a person can choose to go to McDonald's, and can even choose to order the Big Mac, they however have little to no control over what the sandwich contains- leaving off the pickle does not alter the burger that much; it's still the same meat.

Introduction on "McDonaldizaton"

"McDonaldization...is the process by which the principles of the fast food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of American society as well as of the rest of the world" (Ritzer 2000, 7). McDonaldization is present in nearly every aspect of society from Toys R Us, to USA Today. The late-night news program The Hour is a part of this McDonalized society, and we will further explore how and why this show is McDonalidized. The success of a McDonalized system lies in it's ability to produce these four components: efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through nonhuman technology.
_Efficiency
_Predictability
-Calculability,
-Control through nonhuman technology
"can be thought of as the basic components of a rational system. However, rational systems inevitably spawn irrationalities" (Ritzer 2000, 20). In this presentation we will outline the irrationalities of rationality within the McDonalized television show The Hour, through the use of the four components of McDonaldization (efficiency, predictability, calculability, and control through nonhuman technology).