Week 1
Example of yellow wrist bands
Relevance and salience - meaning and identity
● means sth to you, argue with yourself why you need it
● Simply exist, you can not buy things that you don't feel relevant to
● When looking at the product, incorporate who you are, embedded in which group, and
the idea of self
Another example: smoking as “torches of freedom” of Bernays
● Women smoke as frontpage news
● This time, women smoking is seen as taboos
→ feminism and equality
→ show that you’re independent
Shrink it and pink it = the idea of selling to women by making the original product that already
been on the market smaller and pink
Eg: bic pens for women
Barbara Perry case
● We can't get men to buy perfume/cologne
● She does ethnography to see how men choose their romantic partners
● Eg: AXE body spray quiz to find your fragrance → link to identity to see which
group you belong to
Commercials of e.l.f in different national (Mexico, German, US)
→ difference in the national identity, not the product itself
,Week 2
Reading assignment
Ritzer, George. 2004. “The ‘McDonaldization’ of Society.” The Journal of American
Culture 6(1): 100-107.
RQ: Ritzer explained how and why the process of rationalization, which is originally embodied
in the fast-food market, spread into broader society, so-called McDonaldization. The author
examined both sides of the advantages and disadvantages of the rationalization of society, where
everything is constructed with the aim of efficiency, standardization, and predictability.
Data and methodology: This is a theoretical essay. Ritzer uses Weber’s rationalization
framework and constructs an ideal type (“McDonaldization”), drawing on illustrative examples
(fast food, tourism, education, work, leisure) rather than empirical data.
Overall results: Ritzer found 5 major dimensions of rationalization, including efficiency,
predictability, calculability, technology, and control. He discussed the negative sides, irrational
consequences of rationalization, including dehumanization and a lack of excitement, and much
more when rationalization is not controlled well and becomes pervasive without awareness.
Specifically, he pointed out different concerns regarding different dimensions: displacement of
goals when people devote too much attention to efficiency; focus on quantity over quality, even
without computers; replacement of humans; and homogenization of culture. Examining both
sides suggests a need to better control the process of rationalization to minimize the
disadvantages.
5 components of rationality
1. Efficiency = finding fastest and best means to reach a goal
● Considered to be more of a right
● We are in a demanding economy
2. Predictability:
● Consumers should receive predictability. For eg. they should have exact the same
products everywhere they go (standardized)
3. Calculability // Value = emphasis on numbers
● You get a lot for very little (for eg. a lot of food for very little money)
, ● Value calculability in the modern society
4. Control over uncertainty
5. Non-humans technology
● We always trust (moral word) the machine because it doesn't lie
● Machines and systems replace human judgment
Yaish, Meir. Katz-Gerro, Tally. 2012. “Disentangling ‘Cultural Capital’” The
Consequences of Cultural and Economic Resources for Taste and Participation.” European
Sociological Review 28(2): 169-185.
RQ: The article treats two concepts of taste and participation separately and examines the
influence of different factors, such as cultural resources and economic or financial resources, on
tastes and participation. They also examined the relationship and association between tastes and
cultural participation.
Data and Methodology: A telephone survey was conducted with a population of 1005 (N = 1005)
in 2007 in the sample of the Israeli Jewish population. Cultural taste, cultural participation,
cultural resources (including parental cultural capital, parental education, and respondent’s
education), and the economic resources are measured by the multi-item scales. The authors used
factor analysis and then structural equation modeling to analyze the relative influence of cultural
versus economic resources on the two outcomes: tastes versus participation.
Overall results: the results showed that tastes and participation were shaped by different factors.
Specifically, cultural participation is influenced by the economic resources and tastes, while
tastes are shaped by cultural resources. Regarding the association between cultural resources and
participation, it is mediated by taste. In summary, cultural resources can create individual taste,
and when combined with economic resources, it means that people have sufficient finances for
any activity, and cultural participation happens.
Representative: Yes
Generalizability of the data: hard to argue
, What is habitus? = cultural disposition, perceptions of the world, things that you are taught and
influenced by parents and education. It is socially given and deeply ingrained in individual
practices.
Blackbox: why habitus is not only influenced by parents but also education? (how are they
connected?)
● High culture capital
● Parents' consciousness (how parents perceive things) about the importance of high culture
knowledge
● Educational system has a connection with cultural capital and meritocracy
● It is how the parents teach you and the education walks you through (eg of Tom - PC &
HC and John - PC)
Lecture
Everyone is a commercial consumer → has to have money
Buzzword: rational choice and culture help
Rational choice theory → Dictate most things
Want to maximize the benefits and minimize the loss
You dont always pick a choice based on rationality, often irrationally
Weber and Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy likes factory work
● Speed, precision, continuity
● Works objectively according to calculable rules → has equality
● Fits a democratized society where differences are leveled
● Help capitalist interest
● Efficiency and predictability
George Ritzer with rationality
● We are seeing the right of rationality
● Not sensible, logical, you find rationality more important
Example of yellow wrist bands
Relevance and salience - meaning and identity
● means sth to you, argue with yourself why you need it
● Simply exist, you can not buy things that you don't feel relevant to
● When looking at the product, incorporate who you are, embedded in which group, and
the idea of self
Another example: smoking as “torches of freedom” of Bernays
● Women smoke as frontpage news
● This time, women smoking is seen as taboos
→ feminism and equality
→ show that you’re independent
Shrink it and pink it = the idea of selling to women by making the original product that already
been on the market smaller and pink
Eg: bic pens for women
Barbara Perry case
● We can't get men to buy perfume/cologne
● She does ethnography to see how men choose their romantic partners
● Eg: AXE body spray quiz to find your fragrance → link to identity to see which
group you belong to
Commercials of e.l.f in different national (Mexico, German, US)
→ difference in the national identity, not the product itself
,Week 2
Reading assignment
Ritzer, George. 2004. “The ‘McDonaldization’ of Society.” The Journal of American
Culture 6(1): 100-107.
RQ: Ritzer explained how and why the process of rationalization, which is originally embodied
in the fast-food market, spread into broader society, so-called McDonaldization. The author
examined both sides of the advantages and disadvantages of the rationalization of society, where
everything is constructed with the aim of efficiency, standardization, and predictability.
Data and methodology: This is a theoretical essay. Ritzer uses Weber’s rationalization
framework and constructs an ideal type (“McDonaldization”), drawing on illustrative examples
(fast food, tourism, education, work, leisure) rather than empirical data.
Overall results: Ritzer found 5 major dimensions of rationalization, including efficiency,
predictability, calculability, technology, and control. He discussed the negative sides, irrational
consequences of rationalization, including dehumanization and a lack of excitement, and much
more when rationalization is not controlled well and becomes pervasive without awareness.
Specifically, he pointed out different concerns regarding different dimensions: displacement of
goals when people devote too much attention to efficiency; focus on quantity over quality, even
without computers; replacement of humans; and homogenization of culture. Examining both
sides suggests a need to better control the process of rationalization to minimize the
disadvantages.
5 components of rationality
1. Efficiency = finding fastest and best means to reach a goal
● Considered to be more of a right
● We are in a demanding economy
2. Predictability:
● Consumers should receive predictability. For eg. they should have exact the same
products everywhere they go (standardized)
3. Calculability // Value = emphasis on numbers
● You get a lot for very little (for eg. a lot of food for very little money)
, ● Value calculability in the modern society
4. Control over uncertainty
5. Non-humans technology
● We always trust (moral word) the machine because it doesn't lie
● Machines and systems replace human judgment
Yaish, Meir. Katz-Gerro, Tally. 2012. “Disentangling ‘Cultural Capital’” The
Consequences of Cultural and Economic Resources for Taste and Participation.” European
Sociological Review 28(2): 169-185.
RQ: The article treats two concepts of taste and participation separately and examines the
influence of different factors, such as cultural resources and economic or financial resources, on
tastes and participation. They also examined the relationship and association between tastes and
cultural participation.
Data and Methodology: A telephone survey was conducted with a population of 1005 (N = 1005)
in 2007 in the sample of the Israeli Jewish population. Cultural taste, cultural participation,
cultural resources (including parental cultural capital, parental education, and respondent’s
education), and the economic resources are measured by the multi-item scales. The authors used
factor analysis and then structural equation modeling to analyze the relative influence of cultural
versus economic resources on the two outcomes: tastes versus participation.
Overall results: the results showed that tastes and participation were shaped by different factors.
Specifically, cultural participation is influenced by the economic resources and tastes, while
tastes are shaped by cultural resources. Regarding the association between cultural resources and
participation, it is mediated by taste. In summary, cultural resources can create individual taste,
and when combined with economic resources, it means that people have sufficient finances for
any activity, and cultural participation happens.
Representative: Yes
Generalizability of the data: hard to argue
, What is habitus? = cultural disposition, perceptions of the world, things that you are taught and
influenced by parents and education. It is socially given and deeply ingrained in individual
practices.
Blackbox: why habitus is not only influenced by parents but also education? (how are they
connected?)
● High culture capital
● Parents' consciousness (how parents perceive things) about the importance of high culture
knowledge
● Educational system has a connection with cultural capital and meritocracy
● It is how the parents teach you and the education walks you through (eg of Tom - PC &
HC and John - PC)
Lecture
Everyone is a commercial consumer → has to have money
Buzzword: rational choice and culture help
Rational choice theory → Dictate most things
Want to maximize the benefits and minimize the loss
You dont always pick a choice based on rationality, often irrationally
Weber and Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy likes factory work
● Speed, precision, continuity
● Works objectively according to calculable rules → has equality
● Fits a democratized society where differences are leveled
● Help capitalist interest
● Efficiency and predictability
George Ritzer with rationality
● We are seeing the right of rationality
● Not sensible, logical, you find rationality more important
