What is a bureaucracy? According to Max Weber, what are the key elements of a bureaucracy? What is the relationship, according to Weber, between bureaucracies and rationalization?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The foundation of sociological thinking about bureaucracy was built by Max Weber (1864-1920). Weber delineated the key elements of bureaucratic organization: specialized personnel, division of labor, hierarchical authority, impersonality, clearly articulated rules and regulations, and written records. In addition to presenting the major components of bureaucratic organization, Weber devoted considerable attention to the cultural values and modes of thought that gave rise to modern bureaucracies. Bureaucratic structures and processes reflected what Weber took to be the dominant cognitive orientation of modern societies: rationality. For Weber, rational thought patterns were prime elements of a historical process that he called "the disenchantment of the world." By this, he meant the ability and willingness to explain the causes of agents such as devils, ghosts, and genies in order to explain worldly phenomena. Instead, logic and empiricism were the basis for understanding why things happened as they did.
Weber saw rationality as crucial to the design and operation of modern organizations because this mode of thought provided the most effective and efficient way of attaining particular goals. However, the goals a person or organization pursues may not themselves be the result of rational thought. Rationally designed structures and processes can be used to achieve goals that defy rational comprehension.