Ah, postmodernism—the goth teenager of philosophical movements. It swoops in with broad skepticism, questioning everything good and holy about modern life. You know, like that friend who doesn’t eat gluten but insists they’ve found “the truth” hidden in the coffee grounds at their local café. According to researchers (often French, sipping espresso in a café, and wearing a turtleneck), this late 20th-century movement has left many in a spiral of confusion—and maybe even depression.

Modernist Hero: McDonaldization

Let’s face it, modernism was the rational superhero we all needed! It came swinging with Enlightenment ideals, making progress feel as achievable as chewing through a big, juicy hamburger. McDonald’s brought us Big Macs, Golden Arches, Ronald McDonald, promotional tie-ins with popular films and toys, charities, and saturation advertising. The rationalization of production and consumption at McDonald’s is unparalleled in the contemporary era, serving as a model for what Ritzer calls the “McDonaldization of society,” defined by increased efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control through the substitution of human labor with technology—all leading to quantitative and, to some, alarming growth of instrumental rationalization. Modernists churned out hamburgers at mass-production levels with the efficiency of a well-oiled machine! Rational systems? Yes, please! And make mine a combo meal!

Deconstruction of the Combo Meal

But then along come the postmodernists, waving their hands dramatically as if to say, “Not so fast, fast food!” They want to change everything just because they can (seriously—how did changing ketchup on fries become an existential crisis?). Postmodernists scoff at the idea of any objective truth; instead, reality becomes this beautifully messy thing that changes based on who’s telling the story (or how much kombucha they’ve had). They’ll have you doubting every statement you ever confidently made about why pineapple doesn’t belong on pizza! Eating, a human behavior that goes back to the first human behavior, was deconstructed into an existential crisis!

Food for Thought

So what’s our takeaway here? Modernist researchers (usually with beards, pipes, and metrics for everything) have found there is way too much deconstruction going on. Maybe it’s time for us all to take a deep breath and consider advocating for modernism again—where burgers are burgers (no existential crises included) and knowledge has some semblance of clarity. Because let’s be honest: no one should feel like they need three shots of espresso just to figure out whether we should substitute chicken fries for potato fries.

Citations and further reading:

Hartley, David. The ‘McDonaldization’of higher education: food for thought?” Oxford Review of Education 21.4 (1995): 409-423.

Powell, J. (1998). Postmodernism for Beginners. Writers and Readers Publishing.

Ritzer, George (1993; revised edition 1996). The McDonaldization of Society. Thousand Oaks, Ca.: Pine Forge Press.