From burgers to biodiversity The McDonaldization

Authors: Carol Morris Matt Reed

Publish Date: 2007/03/20

Volume: 24, Issue: 2, Pages: 207-218

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Abstract

This paper uses George Ritzer’s account of McDonaldization – the socially transformative process of rationalization – to undertake a critical analysis of agrienvironment schemes the dominant form of onfarm nature conservation in England Drawing on a wide range of evidence including social surveys of the participants and nonparticipants of agrienvironment schemes government files and interviews with government officials the four key dimensions of McDonaldization – efficiency calculability predictability and control through nonhuman technologies – are applied to the analysis of agrienvironment schemes The irrationalities emerging from a McDonaldized approach to nature conservation are discussed together with their implications for farmers nature and society In conclusion the paper points to the emergence of alternative models of onfarm nature conservation that may offer ways of resisting and displacing the McDonaldized versionCarol Morris is Professor of Geography at the University of Nottingham Nottingham UK Her research is broadly concerned with the application of social scientific approaches to the critical analysis of issues and problems affecting the rural environment and agrofood system in British and European contextsMatt Reed is Research Fellow in the ESRC Centre for the Study of Genomics in Society EGENIS University of Exeter UK and a visiting Fellow in the Centre for Rural Research at the University of Exeter UK The main focus of his research has been the organic food and farming movement but he also has conducted research on family farming rural protest movements and the local food economy

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