George Churchill Sociology

McDonaldization of Sport

In this essay I am going to explain why sport has become more and more suited to the

term McDonaldization. I will try and draw examples from two main sports and

examine why it has become more McDonaldized in recent times, using the past as an

example of how things have changed and then draw contrasts. Mcdonaldization is

the term used by the soiciologist George Ritzer, he published the book

McDonaldization of Society (1985) to highlight the issues he feels is faced by the

process. In the book Ritzer says that society has taken on the same characteristics as a

fast food chain.

Ritzer highlighted four primary components of McDonaldization:

Efficiency - the optimal method for accomplishing a task

Calculability - objective should be quantifiable (sales) rather than subjective

(taste)

Predictability - standardized and uniform services

Control - standardized and uniform employees, replacement of human by non-

human technologies

With these four processes, a strategy which is rational within a narrow scope can lead

to outcomes that are harmful or irrational. The process of McDonaldization can be

summarized as the way in 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, 1993:1). In subsequent publications, Ritzer conceptualized a cultural

process he labelled "de-McDonaldization" as a reaction to McDonaldization, and cited

modern baseball stadia with simulated nostalgic features as one example for this

phenomenon. Alternatively, McDonaldization can refer to the replacement of

traditional restaurants with McDonald's.

Efficiency means choosing the optimum means to a given end (Ritzer, 2000: 40).

There are numerous ways to search for ever greater efficiency, but in McDonaldizing

systems, that search has taken the form mostly of streamlining a variety of processes,

George Churchill Sociology

simplifying goods and services, and using the customer to perform unpaid work that

they used to pay employees to do. An example of this can be in the issuing of tickets

for sports events and games.

Buying tickets to events has now changed from what it used to be in the past, in the

past you would have to go to a ticket office where a paid employee would make the

sale for you. In making the sale they would either stamp or print your ticket for you.

Now in the present non-human technologies have taken over and now prospective

buyers of tickets can use the internet, ticket machines and also automated telephone

services. These services provided make the customer do the work, make the sale to

themselves without an employee doing the job.

Due to demand, technology has been instated and now the customers can serve

themselves, this is easier then past times but also without the customer knowing it,

makes them do the clubs work for them. There is no question that greater efficiency

brings many advantages, but it is quite important to remember that the methods used

to increase efficiency are typically organized and operated by organizations to further

their own interests, and they are not always the same of the customers.  Note though,

the more we encounter efficiency, the more of it we crave, and as a result, we often

end up clamoring for that which may not be in our best interests. 

Calculability has come with an emphasis on the quantitative assessment of inputs and

outcomes whereby the quantity of participants has at times been seen as a proxy for

quality and value for money has been judged in terms of cost per customer.

Calculability involves an emphasis on things that can be calculated, counted,

quantified. It often results in an emphasis on quantity rather than quality.  This leads

to a sense that quality is equal to certain, usually (but not always) large, quantities of

things.  Also, there is an emphasis on the efforts to create the illusion of quantity, and

the tendency to reduce production and service processes to numbers.

An example can be found in football, where Adidas have produced a football boot

called Adidas Predator. It is produced in large quantity and is focused mainly on the

stars who wear them, its adverts show David Beckham swerving a free kick and

promise the customers that it will help them achieve this. There is no emphasis on the

George Churchill Sociology

quality of the boot, whereas Umbro produce on smaller scale and they focus on the

quality of there boot range, on the materials it’s made from and the style of the boot

for peoples taste. The stress on calculability brings with it many advantages, such as

the ability to obtain large numbers and sizes of things at a relatively low cost.   On the

other hand though, the fact that in a society that emphasizes quantity, goods and

services tends to be increasingly mediocre, which can be a negative in the long term.

Predictability is the third dimension of the McDonaldization process.  Predictability is

achieved in various ways, including the replication of settings, the uses of scripts to

control what employees say, for example in call centers or in sports this can be a press

conference. In a press conference if an athlete says what the public want to here it

will be fine, this is usually the same thing like they want to win, they going give

100% and are committed to the team. But what if the athlete actually said the truth,

that he didn’t care, maybe he wasn’t happy, wasn’t bothered about winning, then there

would be outrage and everyone would scrutinize the athlete. Ritzer quoted on this in

his book, ‘The consumer neither wants nor expects surprises.  They want to know that

when they order their Big Mac today it will be identical to the one they had yesterday

and the one they will eat tomorrow’ (Ritzer, 1998: 48).

This is similar in sports because when the customer or spectator sees a match or even

a press conference, they don’t want to lose or see erratic behaviour, they want to win

and then see a predictable speech to assure them and not disturb the routine. As a

result, the world in which we live has become increasingly predictable.  And for the

most part, most of the population comes to expect, and even to a certain degree,

demand predictability.  However, many have found that a predictable world can easily

become a boring world, and something sterile. 

 

Control through the McDonaldization process is primarily through the increasing

replacement of humans through non-human technologies.  One of the most important

objectives here is to increase the control over uncertainties created by people –

particularly employees and customers.  In controlling employees and customers, these

non-human technologies would also lead to a greater control over work-related

processes and finished products. However, increased control through technology

would also include not only machines and tools, but also materials, skills, knowledge,

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rules, regulations procedures, and techniques.  A human technology is controlled by

people. Within sports this could be a system that when a sporting good goes out of

stock or surpasses targets will notify the sales department by ringing or buzzing,

taking away the manual procedures used in the past. If an employee was to do the

manual checks this could lead to mistakes, misjudgments or errors, whereas the

technology system incorporated wont make mistakes.

This means that the clubs and associations can take more control over there

employees and customers. They do this by steadily replacing humans with

technology, which are easier to control then humans. The bonus that comes with

technology is that the existing employees can be better controlled by new

technologies. Ritzer points out those technologies are implemented for many reasons

such as greater productivity, more control over quality and also lower cost.

McDonaldization has provided some positives, and also lead to some dramatic

changes. Goods and services are available on a much wider scale now and this has

increased money circulating in sport. Two of the biggest clubs in the world are New

York Yankees of major baseball and Manchester United of the Premier League. They

now have franchises allover the world and they have pre season tours to promote

these franchises. This has given the chance for rising sports nations to see there

heroes play, buy there shirt and support them more, a chance that never seemed

feasible in the past. Another bonus to sport is that now they are producing good on a

large scale they can reduce the prices, allowing people to afford goods they could not

afford before. The fact that sport has franchised and developed more across the world

also made way for more people from different backgrounds to participate. Now sport

is more represented by religions, ethnics, genders and societies.

 

One of the main factors McDonaldization has inputted in sport is the availability the

consumer now has of sport. With greater demand for coverage television stations

have seized on the opportunity and bought rights to sports events and sports leagues.

Now people in far Asia can see Premiership football, people in Europe can see NBA

and the Oceanic region can watch Formula 1 car racing at the touch of a button. This

demand has made sport more business like, the rights to television coverage of sports

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is bought with a view to making profits, making sponsorship deals and advertising

there own organisation.

Franchising is a system in which one large firm, grants or sells the right to distribute

its products or use of its trade name and processes to a number of smaller firms such

as franchise holders, although legally independent, must conform to detailed standards

of operation designed and enforced by the parent company.

McDonaldization in sport can also show examples in the naming of sports clubs and

teams. Success in the modern day is important and so the nickname or actual name of

a club or athlete is important. In America names that bear success are usually linked

with animals, such as lions, bears, sharks and eagles as team nicknames. In Europe

this is also adopted but in a more varied way, teams called the red devils, cats,

gunners and also ending the name of the club in United is linked with success and is

familiar with the consumer (predictability). An even greater change in sport has come

from the American leagues of sport, where there is the possibility that a team can

move from one city to another, this depends mainly on who offers the best facilities

generated by public money for improved stadiums. Sports this has effected includes

basketball, hockey, baseball and football.

Another change in sports has seen the changing of rules and the in bringing of

technology to aid this. In football extra time was usually something played after the

score stayed tied after 90 minutes, playing two halves with 15 minutes each way, and

if there was a winner by the end of that then so be it, otherwise penalties would incur.

Now due to customer demand the rules were changed to make it more exciting, using

golden goal rules where the first team to score won, cancelling out the rest of extra

time.

McDonaldization has changed sport a lot and not all of it is positive. The loss of jobs

within sports, the business like way that it is run has turned people off the sports and

the way the consumer is forced to do the job of someone who should be hired to serve

them. Positives drawn from this though include the expansion of sports made

available worldwide, better quality products made on larger scales reducing costs and

also the more access to coverage of sport has increased interest worldwide generating

more cash and therefore bringing society together more.

George Churchill Sociology

References

Cashmore, E. (1996): Making Sense of Sports, London, Routledge.

 

Coakley J. and Dunning E. (eds.) (2000): Handbook of Sports Studies, London, Sage.

Guttmann, A. (2000): “The Development of Modern Sports.” In J. Coakley and E.

Dunning (eds.): Handbook of Sports Studies, London, Sage.

Maguire, J. (2000): “Sport and Globalization.” In J. Coakley and E. Dunning (eds.):

Handbook of Sports Studies, London, Sage.