George Ritzer's classic treatise on McDonaldization (1993) continues to gain momentum and has become sociologically commonplace. Its relevance has only increased under the influence of digitization of society. Ritzer has a keen eye for the dark side of McDonaldization processes and, in particular, its irrational and dehumanizing side effects. McDonaldization is clearly revealed in the changing nature of civil service work in the sphere of policing, control and enforcement. This is because system-level ICT bureaucracies have made their appearance in government, as a result of which professionals have become heavily dependent on information from computer systems. The principles of New Public Management also played a major role in these changes. According to Ritzer, the current informatization process has intensified McDonaldization tendencies. It is pointed out that Ritzer pays too little attention to automated customer management systems in large companies and government organizations. Digital marketing strategies have become characteristic of these new bureaucracies.

Processes of McDonaldization can be observed in almost all aspects of our lives. This contribution examines how the tendency towards standardization in the Dutch criminal justice system can be understood on the basis of the four central dimensions of McDonaldization distinguished by George Ritzer: efficiency, calculability, predictability and control. A policy analysis of public documents from the judiciary shows that all four dimensions of McDonaldization are present in the policy of the judiciary. With this standardization trend, criminal cases can be settled (more) quickly, but it also poses risks for the judiciary, suspects and judges. These risks are recognized and more attention has been paid to quality, tailor-made work and a wider scope for assessment by judges within the policies. It remains to be seen whether these counter-policies can actually provide sufficient counterweight in practice.

This paper focusses on the central position of evidence-based policing (EBP) both in the police, and in police science over the past 25 years. In his paper he shows that this can be seen as a double process of McDonaldization. The four core elements as distinguished by Ritzer can be found both in EBP police research, and in EBP tries to have an impact on police work and police profession. In both cases a central assumption is that context and differences in context can be ignored. However, both are based upon a misunderstanding of the importance of the ‘human factor’. For that reason, both may result in what Ritzer has called dehumanization and irrationalities.

This article takes the four principles of Ritzer’s work on the McDonaldization of Society (1993) as starting point to analyse the so-called integrated approach in the Netherlands to fight and contain organized drug-related crime. Nowadays, in the Netherlands this type of organized crime is referred to as ‘subversive crime’. For decades, the integrated approach to organised crime has been based on several fixed guiding principles and a set pattern, which are rarely questioned. The authors of this article review and dare to question the cognitive and operational logic of these guiding principles. First, they argue that the key concepts of the approach (‘subversive crime’ and ‘integrated’) have led to much confusion and misunderstanding. Second, by looking at the integrated approach from the angles of predictability, calculability, efficiency and control, they conclude that the approach has culminated in several interesting new initiatives and developments on the one hand, but has resulted in much organizational disorder and fuss on the other.

The Dutch childcare benefits scandal – the Dutch tax authority used doubtful algorithms to catch suspected benefits fraud – can be understand as an expression of irrationality that manifests itself in the political, bureaucratic and technological context of algorithmic governance. The aim of this essay to critically discuss the nature of the bureaucratic processes of algorithmic governance and the irrationality that is intermingled with such processes. This essay shows that bureaucratic processes of algorithmic governance are marked by an inherent irrationality. The Dutch childcare benefits scandal provides a case that reveals a dark, Kafkaesque irrationality in the operations of the tax authority.

This essay discusses Jesse Frederik’s book on the disenchanting Dutch child benefits scandal, and in particular the policy phantom that stricter fraud enforcement would pay for itself many times over. On the one hand it is argued that Frederik offers an excellent overview of more than ten years of ruthless anti-fraud policies through which the lives of tens of thousands of innocent parents were destroyed. On the other hand, it is argued that Frederik’s assessment that in the end ‘nobody is to blame’, is difficult to maintain. The top of the national tax administration – consisting of many flown-in change managers – resorted to risky automated fraud detection systems and consciously decided to go beyond the boundaries of the law.

In this essay the role of McDonaldization in police strategies towards the public is examined. While the essence of police work is individualistic, the nature of the organization and its ongoing rationalization provide fertile ground for McDonaldization. Two police trust-building strategies rely on McDonaldized elements of predictability, standardization, calculability, and reliance on technological control. First, the police ‘service concept’ pushes citizens to submit digital, standardized crime reports which appear efficient but turn out inefficient and ineffective. Second, applying ‘procedural justice checklists’ during police stops stimulates box-ticking and implicitly encourages the police to avoid citizen interactions. The author concludes that these attempts to rationalize police-citizen relationships are counterproductive and alternative approaches towards citizens are required.

In this essay the author discusses the invention, development and expansion of electronic monitoring, that is, the use of ankle bracelets as a means to supervise and control offenders or suspects in the community, using George Ritzer’s work on McDonaldization. The author argues that processes of McDonaldization can certainly be identified but he also points at some of the limitations of using McDonaldization to understand electronic monitoring in contemporary society.