George Ritzer - Education and Early Employment

Education and Early Employment

Ritzer graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1958. He described it as a great experience. At the Bronx High School of Science he claims to have, "encountered the brightest people I have ever met in my life”.

Ritzer began his education at the City College of New York. While at CCNY, Ritzer initially thought that he was going to focus on business, but he later changed his major to accounting.

After graduating from CCNY in 1962, Ritzer decided that he was interested in pursuing business again. Ritzer was accepted into the MBA program at the University of Michigan, where he received a partial scholarship. While at Michigan, Ritzer's official academic interest was human relations, however, he reports having many other intellectual hobbies such as reading Russian novels. Ritzer reported that at Michigan he was able to grow and improve as a student. He loved the city of Ann Arbor and the small college town feeling that it emitted. However, during his time at Michigan, Ritzer can clearly remember being greatly connected to global events. He reports memories of going to the Michigan Union to watch the happenings of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Ritzer graduated from The University of Michigan in 1964. After graduation, Ritzer began working in personnel management for the Ford Motor Company. However, he soon became uncomfortable with his workplace. Ritzer’s managers mistakenly hired more people than was necessary for his job, leaving Ritzer idle and unoccupied. As Ritzer once said: “If we had two hours of work a day, it was a lot”. Nevertheless, Ritzer was always expected to appear busy. He would constantly wander around the factory for hours observing people working. This caused many of the workers and foremen to become hostile towards Ritzer. Moreover, Ritzer also found problems within the management structure at Ford. Most of the younger people with advanced degrees opposed their elders who were less educated. Furthermore, Ritzer found himself constrained and unable to do anything creative while working at Ford. This experience led Ritzer to seek new opportunities for his life. Soon, Ritzer found himself applying to PhD programs.

Shortly thereafter, Ritzer enrolled in Cornell University’s organizational behavior PhD program in the School of Labor and Industrial Relations. Ritzer was advised by Harrison Trice, who urged him to minor in sociology. After being told by sociology department head Gordon Streib to read an introductory textbook, Ritzer found himself enthralled with the subject matter. He continued to succeed at sociology courses at the graduate level. During one of his courses on American society, Ritzer wrote a 102 page paper, on which he received an A+. Ritzer attributed his talent of being able to compete with well read and experienced sociology students to his ability to work hard.