The Analysis And Comparison Of Ritzer And Percy

Solutions to the Inevitable Future: The Analysis and Comparison of Ritzer and Percy Society is going through a cultural shift that is unavoidable. People are becoming more dependent on technology as time goes on. There are pros and cons to these technological advancements and with these advancements comes responsibility. Both Ritzer and Percy look at the problems that technology could cause with a critical yet optimistic eye that other pieces like Nicholar Carrs “Is Google Making Us Stupid” did not present. Furthermore, Ritzer and Percy delve into the possibility of how the world could collapse if society chooses to ignore the problems arising from the growth in technology. Although these pieces use different situations, they each address

People are searching for newer and faster ways to accomplish tasks. Although this can be beneficial to society there are also consequences. Society begins to lose the meaning of the task at hand. People become so wrapped up in finishing the task, they forget to stop and soak in the moment. Ritzer points out that in the food industry, it is all being aimed towards something more efficient. Instead of going to restaurants, people are going through drive-through windows or eating T.V. dinners. Society is becoming less concerned with what is going inside their body, and more worrisome of whether or not they are even going to have time to eat. This problem is increasing each day. People are no longer concerned with the ambiance of a restaurant. People have forgotten the true meaning of why families sit down and have dinner together. Percy also makes this same point but in a different context. Percy mentions about a couple that had come across a tribe in Mexico. They immediately after searched for their ethnologist friend. The couple wanted to share the experience with their friend because they thought the ethnologist would also have a wonderful experience. Although Percy does not think this is the case. He

Whether it be going to Alaska to see the northern lights or Arizona to see the Grand Canyon, people rarely get the actual authentic experience. It is the same when people go to restaurants. Instead of going into an actual dine in place, people choose McDonalds. In Ritzer’s piece he talks about how society is all about quantity rather than quality. He states, “The bottom line in many settings is the number of customers processed, the speed with which they are processed, and the profits produced. Quality is secondary, if indeed there is any concern at all for it” (Ritzer, 376). This is what makes fast food places not authentic. They are not appealing to the quality style of dine in restaurant, but to the efficiency of the setting. Although most already know this going into a fast food restaurant, people still expect it to being a quality meal. The same goes for site seeing. People can go on a tour of the Grand Canyon, but that does not mean that they truly experienced it. Percy wrote, “It is almost impossible because the Grand Canyon, the thing as it is, has been appropriated by the symbolic complex which has already been formed in the sightseer’s mind” (Percy, 1). Percy is trying to demonstrate with this text that people create expectations and preconceived notions that disable them from experiencing the event authentically. Both of these essays coincide with each other and help convince the reader that society is