GEORGE RITZER is Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Maryland, USA and was named a Distinguished-Scholar Teacher there. He is editor of the Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (2007) and author of several books including The McDonaldization of Society (9th ed., 2018), The Globalization of Nothing (2nd ed., 2007), and coauthor with Paul Dean of Globalization: The Essentials (2nd ed, 2019).WENDY WIEDENHOFT MURPHY is Professor of Sociology at John Carroll University, USA. She is author of Consumer Culture and Society (2017) and co-author with George Ritzer of Essentials of Sociology, (3rd ed., 2018) and focuses primarily on sociological theory, environmental sociology, and the sociology of consumption.