ettuce or tomatoes. Finally the burrito is slid down to the next worker who wraps the food up and takes it out to the waiting patron. Being unable to see all of this production enables the patrons to believe in the fact that their food is made with care and quality with the best ingredients. The FDA will not allow food in restaurants to be made with anything less than quality products, but the manner in which it is prepared and served to patrons has nothing to do with quality or care, it is all about efficiency. Owners of these businesses are only concerned with serving as many people as they can in as short amount of time as possible. According to Henslin, this is one of the main characteristics of bureaucracies, which are outlined through McDonaldization. "Bureaucracies, which have become a standard feature or modern life, are a powerful form of social organization." (Henslin, Pg. 110) Bureaucracies depend on impersonality, as displayed by the workers of both Taco Bell and Burger King restaurants. They also rely on divisions of labor, which make it so that each worker has a specific task to fulfill, which in turn makes it so that when all of these tasks are fulfilled, then the establishment works as intended and goals are met. Although there are some benefits of McDonaldization, in general, this process can be viewed as harmful to our society. McDonaldization is a very large-scale example of the bureaucracies of our society. I feel that fast-food restaurants have opened up a whole new world for our generations that make it clear that things can be done more quickly and efficiently, though quality if of little importance. This is an unacceptable way of thinking for modern America. If we let people get away with the idea that quantity is more powerful than quality, than the structure of our society will begin to disintegrate more than it already has. Henslin points out that if people do not care about the quality of today’s pro...
