The Victory of Instrumental Reason and Farewell to Variety

This book introduces variety as one of the most important human needs. Throughout history, the need for variety faced two tragedies, and as a result, has never been completely satisfied. The first tragedy occurred in traditional societies in which, although new and different phenomena were available, because of strict rules, customs, and taboos, people were not allowed to experience them. The second tragedy is happening in today’s world: although people have been liberated from most traditional limitations and are now allowed to experience new phenomena, because of the domination of instrumental reason in all aspects of life and the growth of standardization and repetition, there are no new or different phenomena to be experienced. The remainder of the book presents the ideas of theorists whom the author calls commentators on the age of standardization and repetition because they are intellectuals who, consciously or unconsciously, refer to the problem of standardization and repetition in their theories. The last theorist introduced in this book as such a commentator is George Ritzer. In the opinion of the author, Ritzer thoroughly explains the age of repetition in his famous theory, “McDonaldization of Society.” The author presents two discussions about the McDonaldization of sociology and McDonaldization in semi-modern countries. He also explains postmodernism, which, according to the view of this book, is the result of the spread of standardization and repetition and is also an attempt to satisfy the need for variety by rejecting or criticizing the foundations and principles of modernism.