Fordism, McDonaldization and the virtues of Ritzer's disciplined eclecticism

This paper explores Ritzer's analytical innovation in offering McDonaldization as a concept that avoids the macro–micro divide. This dichotomy was ascendant for much of the post-war period. Ritzer's pioneering work on meta-theory did much to loosen its grip on sociological work. Meta-theory is the handmaiden of McDonaldization. The paper seeks to draw out some links because they have not generally been explored in the secondary literature. McDonaldization is conceived as a process in which local and global alternate and intersect. Ritzer's concept of grobalization is used to demonstrate the gains in analysis compared with ‘Fordism’ which tended to reproduce the macro/micro distinction in an uncritical manner. Ritzer might be said to be a far more critical theorist in holding that evidentiary analysis should leave no doors closed and presuppose no permanent theoretical advantage in the ‘global’ over the ‘local’.