Fast Food Nation research paper
Krizhia Atienza
ENGWR 101
May 20, 2014
The fast food industry has impacted the lives of many. Cultures have changed throughout the introduction of these fast food places, such as the American culture. At first the changes that Americans experienced were not so bad, but as the fast food industry strived; the effects that it had on American culture grew to be problematic. The effects of the fast food industry on historical, economic, and health factors are something that needs to be paid more attention to. The fast food industry, which has been around for three decades, focuses on feeding the growing economy instead of the quality that they should put into the food that they make. “The quality of the food has decreased and yet the industry is still booming with more and more people eating their food.” (Levitt 42). Instead of worrying about the quality that their food has, fast food industries are more focused on making enough to meet the number of people in the economy. Fast food places strived for quality over quantity, but now it seems that quantity is a whole lot better than spending time to make freshly made food.
The productions of these industries used to be slow and steady because workers would take their time to hand make everything; however, human hands were replaced with machines to hurry the production of food and reduce the time spent on the production. This takes a toll on workers because less people are employed because the work is easy enough for one person to do the same thing for hours. “When a machine replaces a production worker, both the firm and consumers as a group benefit. The loss falls mainly on the worker who is displaced.” (Kuttner 2). People are losing their jobs because something that would take a lot of time and quality is just being thrown together in a matter of seconds by one or two set of hands. Although people can take shifts and rotate what they have to do in the fast food industry, it still cuts back on a lot of
ENGWR 101
May 20, 2014
The fast food industry has impacted the lives of many. Cultures have changed throughout the introduction of these fast food places, such as the American culture. At first the changes that Americans experienced were not so bad, but as the fast food industry strived; the effects that it had on American culture grew to be problematic. The effects of the fast food industry on historical, economic, and health factors are something that needs to be paid more attention to. The fast food industry, which has been around for three decades, focuses on feeding the growing economy instead of the quality that they should put into the food that they make. “The quality of the food has decreased and yet the industry is still booming with more and more people eating their food.” (Levitt 42). Instead of worrying about the quality that their food has, fast food industries are more focused on making enough to meet the number of people in the economy. Fast food places strived for quality over quantity, but now it seems that quantity is a whole lot better than spending time to make freshly made food.
The productions of these industries used to be slow and steady because workers would take their time to hand make everything; however, human hands were replaced with machines to hurry the production of food and reduce the time spent on the production. This takes a toll on workers because less people are employed because the work is easy enough for one person to do the same thing for hours. “When a machine replaces a production worker, both the firm and consumers as a group benefit. The loss falls mainly on the worker who is displaced.” (Kuttner 2). People are losing their jobs because something that would take a lot of time and quality is just being thrown together in a matter of seconds by one or two set of hands. Although people can take shifts and rotate what they have to do in the fast food industry, it still cuts back on a lot of
Cited: Berman, Jillian. "You 're Secretly Subsidizing a Fast Food Ceo 's Million-Dollar Salary." States News Service. Huffinton Post, 5 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 May 2014. Brox, Denene. "Customer Carousel." Restuarant Customer Throughput Matters in Down Economy Nov. 2010. QSR. Web. 20 May 2014. "Factory Farming: Cruelty to Animals." PETA. 18 June 2012. Web. 20 May 2014. "Fast Food Industry Analysis 2014 - Cost & Trends." Fast Food Industry Analysis 2014 - Cost & Trends. 12 Feb. 2013. Web. 20 May 2014. Kuttner, Bob. "The Declining Middle." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, July 1983. Web. 20 May 2014. Leidner, Robin. Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life. Berkeley: U of California, 1993. Print. Levitt, Theodore. Production-line Approach to Service. Business Review, Sept.-Oct. 2013. PDF. Mayhew, Claire, and Michael Quinlan. "Fordism in the Fast Food Industry: Pervasive Management Control and Occupational Health and Safety Risks for Young Temporary Workers." Sociology of Health & Illness 24.3 (2002): 261-84. Web. 20 May 2014. Poti, Jennifer M., Kiyah J. Duffey, and Barry M. Popkin. "The Association of Fast Food Consumption with Poor Dietary Outcomes and Obesity among Children: Is It the Fast Food or the Remainder of the Diet?" American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2014): 162-71. Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 May 2014.