In this vital book, Max Weber's rationalization thesis is updated and applied to the late 20th and early 21st century: where Weber focused on bureaucracies as the "iron cages" of rationalization in his time, the central premise of McDonaldization is that the fast food restaurant has become the model for the rationalization process today.

The book examines ways in which fast food businesses have created a system of operation based on efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control; and how the same principles have been applied to other settings and contexts as diverse as motel chains, "big box" stores, churches, child care centers, college rankings, health care providers, the Internet, and political participation. The author also looks at attempts to resist and reverse the effects of McDonalization, a term which has become part of the lexicon of contemporary sociological theory.