Guest lecture by J. Michael Ryan (Pontifical Catholic University of Peru) on McDonaldization and semiotics

On October 16 at 16:15, J. Michael Ryan will give a guest lecture titled "McDonaldization and Semiotics". Ryan is a professor of sociology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú). He has studied the phenomenon of McDonaldization and co-edits the book "The McDonaldization of Society" with George Ritzer.

Abstract

This talk will begin by introducing the concept of McDonaldization. First defined by social theorist George Ritzer in 1983 as the process by which the principles of the fast-food restaurant are coming to dominate more and more sectors of society, McDonaldization has gone on to become one of the most influential theories in the social sciences over the last several decades. By examining the ways in which the world is becoming increasingly efficient, predictable, calculable, and controlled by non-human technologies, the theory ultimately posits that this increasing rationalization is leading to an irrationality of rationality. This talk will blend discussions of the value of McDonaldization as a social theory with references to how McDonald’s itself can be employed by semioticians as a means of better understanding the contemporary social world. 

Ryan is one of the two opponents of Andrew Mark Creighton's doctoral thesis in semiotics and cultural theory titled "Wolves as Signs of McDonaldization in Northern Manitoba," which will be defended on October 14 at 16:15 in the University Senate Hall.