Sociologist Explores McDonald's, Facebook, Globalization and ... You

Dr. George Ritzer, a sociologist and author of The McDonaldization of Society, will present the 2011 Honors Lecture, “Globalization, Fast Food, and Facebook: What Do They Have to Do with One Another, You and Me?” at 7:30 p.m. April 26 at McDaniel College.

The lecture is free and open to the public. 

A Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland, Ritzer’s current interests are fast-food restaurants as part of consumer culture and the “McDonaldization of Society,” globalization (which includes McDonaldization, as well as many other processes), and Facebook as part of Web 2.0, according to the McDaniel website.

“I will discuss these topics in the context of my personal – not too personal – history and the changing social world in which we live,” said Ritzer, an expert on the topics of consumption and globalization, in a news release. “Over the years my interests and the topics that I study have changed, sometimes accidentally, as I have evolved but they also have changed as a result of developments in the social world.”

According to the McDaniel website, Ritzer is the author of six books in the field of sociology, including The McDonaldization of Society, Enchanting a Disenchanted World and the The Globalization of Nothing. His most recent book is Globalization: A Basic Text. He is working on The Outsourcing of Everything with Craig Lair of Oxford. 

“These concerns reflect not only personal and social history, but also my lifelong interest in social theory,” Ritzer said in the release. “As I will show, my orientation to these and other topics is always shaped and informed by my favorite theoretical perspectives.”

McDaniel College began the honors program in 1986 to provide a more challenging education for academically-talented students.