scholarly journals The changing nature of consumption and the intensification of McDonaldization in the digital age

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Ritzer ◽  
Steven Miles
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Consumption Experience ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Networked Individualism

In this article, we re-examine the McDonaldization thesis in light of social changes that occurred since the 1990s and notably in light of the onset of digital forms of consumption. The argument is presented that while the theory of McDonaldization remains profoundly relevant to the consumption of bricks-and-mortar locales, it is even more applicable in the digital age, as well as “bricks-and-clicks” consumption sites. The ways in which McDonaldization is played out in three iconic companies, namely, McDonalds, Amazon, and Wal-Mart is critically interrogated. On this basis, the article seeks to understand what the intensification of McDonaldization means for our understanding of the contemporary consumption experience. Arguing that theories are routinely outpaced by the pace of social change, we contend that the digital speeds up processes of rationalization while intensifying levels of consumption. The article concludes by reflecting on what this might mean given that we now live in an age of networked individualism, for our understanding of the relationship between place and consumption: the degree to which digital platforms appear to consumers to be “natural” and thus ideologically powerful, being of particular concern. For this reason, we suggest that the McDonaldization thesis is, in fact, more relevant in the digital future than it was in the bricks-and-mortar past.

CSR Communication in the Digital Age

2019 ◽  
pp. 71-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Nicoli ◽  
Marcos Komodromos
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Social Responsibility ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Strategic Communication ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Csr Communication ◽  
New Directions ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

The purpose of this chapter is to explore, describe, and offer new directions on corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication in the digital age. CSR communication is in a state of flux as organizations adapt to technological transformations and new communication approaches conducive to the digital age. The chapter draws on current strategic communication trends and CSR communication literature to underline new theoretical and practical implications. The chapter explicates the relationship between CSR, strategic communication, and more recent forms of CSR communication via digital platforms. The Bank of Cyprus is considered as a case study to illustrate how one largely structured organization applies current approaches of CSR communication.

Social Change and Micronesian Suicide Mortality: A Test of Competing Hypotheses

2018 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-32
Author(s):  
Edward D. Lowe
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
Suicide Mortality ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Modern Material ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Modern Economic ◽  
Competing Hypotheses ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Relationship

How do modernizing social changes affect suicide risks for youths in small economically developing societies? Since Durkheim, social researchers have hypothesized that processes of social disintegration and processes of normative cultural disequilibrium can increase suicide rates. A lifestyle incongruity hypothesis has also been proposed. This article tests these competing hypotheses for the epidemic of suicide that occurred on culturally diverse communities of the Pacific Islands of Micronesia. The sample includes 74 municipalities of the Federated States of Micronesia. Multiple regression analyses suggest that the best analytic model includes the degree of urbanization, the levels of social integration, and the incongruity between modern economic resources and achieved modern material lifestyle. These results suggest that researchers should attend more to the way communities aspire to and participate in global markets as opposed to shifting adult role structures and occupations as a site for understanding the relationship between rapid social change and suicide.

Tradition and change

1994 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Lohof
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
Bronze Age ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Settlement Patterns ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
The North ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Middle Bronze Age ◽  
The Relationship

This article is based on the results of a project on social change in the Early and Middle Bronze Age in the north-eastern Netherlands, which ended in 1991. Although the project originally focused on the possible development of social stratification, here, the emphasis will be on the relationship between burial ritual and social change in general. Before embarking on the main argument, it should be understood that the link between burial ritual and social change by no means implies the view that burial ritual reflects all social changes which take place within a society, nor that the changes observed in the burial ritual are essential to an understanding of the society concerned. The burial ritual offers us no more than an opportunity to study past social changes. The resulting interpretations should be supported and tested by other expressions of material culture, such as those concerning economy and settlement patterns.

scholarly journals MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY: DIGITAL OPTIMISTS AND DIGITAL PESSIMISTS

2017 ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Anka Mihajlov Prokopovic
Keyword(s):  
Mass Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Pure Form ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Variable Intensity ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Media And Technology ◽  
The Relationship

This work examines the relationship between mass media and digital technology by following McChesney’s argument (2013) that the division on the technological optimists and technological pessimists is gaining in significance again. The debate between these two currents, which has been ongoing since the beginning of the Internet with variable intensity, has enabled many advantages and many disadvantages brought by the digital age is discussed in its “pure form''. The work is conceptualization of the following themes: the nature of the mass media, the characteristics of digital life, citizens' participation in the creation of content on digital platforms and the future of journalism, as they are seen by these two theoretical approaches.

scholarly journals The Relationship between Conflict and Social Change in the Perspective of Expert Theory: A Literature Review

2022 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 09-16
Author(s):  
Iskandarsyah Siregar ◽  
Zulkarnain
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Contextual Factor ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Social Situations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Expert Theory ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

Conflict and social change are a couple that influences each other. Conflict inevitably drives social change. Social changes also inevitably lead to conflict. These conditions can manifest in large or small sizes. Every society that exists on this earth in their life will certainly experience what is called changes. The existence of these changes will be known if we compare by examining society at a particular time which we then compare with the state of society in the past. Changes that occur in society are a continuous process. This situation means that every society will, in fact, experience changes. This study aims to collect argumentative views on the relationship between conflict and social change. The conclusions of this study have a significant impact in providing illustrations and projections of what social situations occur before and after conflicts or social changes occur. This research is a discourse relation analysis research. This type of research analyzes the relationship between two or more variables and then describes each contextual factor. This study concludes that the argumentative view of implying and exposing the relationship of conflict to social change is vital and sensitive.

RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL CORPORATIVA BUSINESS CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Henry Mamfredo Zambrana Flores
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Corporate Sustainability ◽  
Business Management ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Corporate Social ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Los Grupos

La responsabilidad social empresarial (RSE) es un concepto con el cual las empresas deciden voluntariamente incluirse en el logro de una sociedad mejor y un medio ambiente más saludable. Requiere de una continua adaptación a los cambios que se producen en su entorno, con su mirada puesta en la sostenibilidad empresarial que beneficie a la empresa y a las partes interesadas. El presente trabajo aborda, en primer lugar, los inicios y evolución del concepto de RSE, mostrando la estrecha relación con los cambios económicos y sociales. La responsabilidad social empresarial se inició con acciones filantrópicas, seguidas de acciones de inversión social. Sin embargo, en la actualidad, se plantea la realización de prácticas responsables integradas a la gestión empresarial, lo que propone nuevos modelos de gestión empresarial. Para comprender la noción de RSE en los negocios, se ha considerado necesario la realización de un diagnóstico en profundidad. Para ello, se muestran las diversas teorías y modelos de RSE corporativa; los grupos de interés y la RSE para la gestión; su interrelación con las normas legales actuales; y las herramientas de aplicación. Si se quiere ser competitivo, es necesario entender la empresa como un ciudadano corporativo con deberes y derechos, así como desafíos y aspectos críticos en su gestión. Finalmente, se hace mención a una serie de casos de RSE en los ámbitos internacional, nacional y regional para comprender el accionar y la respuesta de diversas empresas frente a los desafíos de su entorno y las necesidades de sus grupos de interés. ABSTRACTCorporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to include themselves the achievement of a better society and a healthier environment. It requires constantly adapting to the changing environment, with their sights set on corporate sustainability that benefits the company and stakeholders. Firstly, this paper addresses the beginnings and evolution about CSR concept, showing the close relationship between the economic and social changes. CSR began with philanthropy actions, followed by social investment actions. However, today, a realization of responsible practices integrated to business management is set out, which proposes new models of business management. To understand CSR in business is necessary to consider performing an in-depth diagnostic; for that, it shows the various theories and models of Corporate CSR, the stakeholders and CSR management; the relationship with the current laws and implementation tools. If competitiveness is required, it is necessary to understand the company as a corporate citizen with rights and duties, as well as challenges and critical issues in management. Finally, many of regional, national and internationals CSR cases are mentions to understand the actions and responses of various companies facing the challenges of their environment and the needs of its stakeholders. .

“Jumble Sales Are the Same the World Over”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Watson
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
West African ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Lesbian Relationships ◽  
Female Friendship ◽  
The World ◽  
Female Headed Households

This chapter analyzes the novels of the British writer Barbara Pym, which are often read as cozy tales of English middle-class postwar life but which, I argue, are profoundly influenced by the work Pym carried out as an editor of the journal Africa at the International African Institute in London, where she worked for decades. She used ethnographic techniques to represent social change in a postwar, decolonizing, non-normative Britain of female-headed households, gay and lesbian relationships, and networks of female friendship and civic engagement. Pym’s novels of the 1950s implicitly criticize the synchronic, functionalist anthropology of kinship tables that dominated the discipline in Britain, substituting an interest in a new anthropology that could investigate social change. Specific anthropological work on West African social changes underpins Pym’s English fiction, including several journal articles that Pym was editing while she worked on her novels.

Affective labour and class distinction in the night-time economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 003802612110063
Author(s):  
Steven Threadgold ◽  
David Farrugia ◽  
Julia Coffey
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Dynamics ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Service Work ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Feminist Analysis ◽  
Consumption Experience ◽  
Gendered Politics ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Class Distinction

This article contributes to recent debates about the relationship between affective labour and class by exploring the classed distinctions enacted through affective labour in the urban night-time economy. Bringing theories of affective labour into a dialogue with Bourdieusian feminist analysis, the article explores the affective and symbolic dynamics of hospitality labour in a gentrified inner-urban neighbourhood of Melbourne, Australia. It shows how the practice of hospitality labour enacts classed distinctions and tensions emerging from the gentrification of inner-urban areas, and how the aesthetic and symbolic dimensions of class contribute to the valorisation of affect in hospitality venues. The valorisation of affect are processes in which the value attributed to an atmosphere or consumption experience is based on the forms of distinction practised within the venue, enacted in aesthetics, tastes and modes of embodiment. The article also shows how practices of class distinction – both ‘punching up’ and ‘managing down’ – are connected to the gendered politics of service work in the way that workers manage the threat of violence or sexual harassment in venues. In general, the article shows how the classed dynamics of gentrification are enacted in affective economies, and therefore how Bourdieusian analysis of class can be usefully deployed in theoretical debates about affective labour.

scholarly journals Digital Platform Ecosystems as Living Labs for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation: A Conceptual Model Proposal

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6494
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Baran ◽  
Aleksandra Berkowicz
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Real Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
Innovation Development ◽  
Sustainable Entrepreneurship ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Digital Platform ◽  
Living Labs ◽  
Platform Ecosystems ◽  
The Relationship

The main idea of the paper is to combine modern research methods (as living labs that enable research in a real-life setting) with the new technological opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation development (as digital platforms) to search for innovative solutions, while addressing the sustainable development problems. Thus, the paper aims to explain how real value for society is created within digital platform ecosystems and how they employ to this end novel solutions that better address existing social problems. Consequently, it proposes a conceptual framework to research and develop sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation with the use of digital platforms. This research study takes a synthesizing conceptual approach that seeks to integrate the existing knowledge drawn on two major streams of research: living labs as a methodology and digital platform ecosystems to enrich the theory of sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation development. The paper contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a novel conceptual model of digital platform ecosystems as living labs for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation. The model depicts digital platform ecosystems examined as living labs and the implicit processes that include platform users in problem-solving and value-creation in real-life settings. The novelty of the model stems from framing these processes that capture the relationship between individuals and opportunities as the foundations of entrepreneurship and the relationship between the problem space and the solution space, where the opportunities occur.

scholarly journals From automobile capitalism to platform capitalism: Toyotism as a prehistory of digital platforms

2021 ◽  
pp. 017084062110306
Author(s):  
Marc Steinberg
Keyword(s):  
Automobile Industry ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
New Era ◽  
Data Intensive ◽  
New Organizational Forms ◽  
Production Practice ◽  
Industry Applications ◽  
Digital Artefact ◽  
The Relationship

This article explores the automotive lineage and manufacturing origins of platforms. Challenging prevailing assumptions that the platform is a digital artefact, and platform capitalism a new era, this article traces crucial elements of platform capitalism to Toyotist automobile manufacture in order to rethink the relationship between technology and organization. Arguing that the very terminology and industry applications of the ‘platform’ emerge from the automobile industry over the course of the 20th century, this article cautions against the uncritical adoption of epochal paradigms, or assumptions that new technologies require new organizational forms. By parsing the platform into two types, the stack and the intermediary, this article demonstrates how the platform concept and data-driven production practice both develop out of the Toyota Production System in particular, and American and Japanese analyses of it. Toyotism, we show, is the unseen industrial and epistemological background against which the platform economy plays out. In making this case, this article highlights the crucial continuities between the data intensive production of companies like Uber and Amazon – emblematic of digital platform capitalism – and the organizational paradigms of the automobile industry. At a moment when the automobile returns to prominence amidst platforms such as Uber, Didi Chuxing, or Waymo, and as we find tech companies turning to automobile manufacturing, this automotive lineage of the platform offers a crucial reminder of the automotive origins of what we now call platform capitalism.

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