Fordism, McDonaldization, Consumerism and the Church

One of my favorite little pet subjects is McDonaldization, a topic I have written on here and here. McDonaldization is:

a term used by sociologist George Ritzer in his book The McDonaldization of Society (1995). He describes it as the process by which a society takes on the characteristics of a fast-food restaurant.

Ritzer has updated The McDonaldization of Society several times since 1995 and has also compiled a McDonaldization Reader.

Now, I find out there is an older expression of roughly the same thing - "Fordism."  AJ Schwanz writes:

One interesting observation brought up:  since the “Fordism” of America (when people starting working in a factory to create goods for others rather than engaging in the art of craftsmanship to meet their personal needs), people have become more and more dissected - segmented - taken apart.  Just as the work place was analyzed and changed into a manufacturing line, human beings have been analyzed and taken apart into having certain “needs” that must be met by products they can purchase.  Which we all know doesn’t work:  the fires of consumption only grow with each offering, and yet I know I keep piling it on. 

I found this via Bill Kinnon's rant against the consumer church in which he took on a post in Out of Ur on franchising the church by Eddie Johnson.  Eddie Johnson has written more on the franchised church at his own blog here and here.

If franchising were all and only about learning from others and emulating "best practices" I think it would be fairly innocuous.  But I think Bill Kinnon hits the nail on the head in his assessment of the practices.  Though advocates of the franchised church argue that this generation speaks the language of marketing and this is the best way to reach them, Bill provides some good counter-arguments to the effect that "franchising" is pushing people, at least young people, away.  Here's a few sound bites from his post.  First is Sarah, a GenX'er

We know you have tried to get us to church. That's part of the problem. Many of your appeals have been carefully calculated for success and that turns our collective stomach. (From Earl Creps book, Off-Road Disciplines.)

Here's Roy Williams:

...today's teens are rejecting Pretense. Born into a world of hype, their internal BS-meters are highly sensitive and blisteringly accurate. Words like "amazing," "astounding," and "spectacular" are translated as "blah," "blah," and "blah." Consequently, tried and true selling methods that worked as recently as a year ago are working far less well today. Trust me, I know.

Here's John LeGrou:

David Kinneman, in his new book UnChristian, says of the Millennial generation, “they can smell B.S. from several miles away, they are easily offended by unwanted marketers. They identify more with an experience and relationship than a message.”

Having said all of that, I am not against marketing per se. I enjoy reading Seth Godin, the guru of marketing and I frequent Chris Forbes' Ministry Marketing Coach blog.  Yet, their version of "marketing" seems to me to escape the notion of "Jesus as product," which is what Bill is arguing against here.

So I think Bill and the critics of the franchise church are spot on - this is an argument against the commodification of the faith and an argument to engage people as people, not prospects and to engage them as human beings, not as a part of an assembly line process.