43
Increased bureaucracy
is, says Weber, a product of
rationalization, providing society
with a machinelike organization that
promotes efficiency. However, to work within
an administrative apparatus can lead to individual
disenchantment: with little scope for personal
initiative and creativity, a bureaucrat can feel their
lot is one of monotonous and repetitive paperwork.their worth in society is determined
by others rather than by their
own skills or craftsmanship. The
desire for self-improvement is
replaced with an obsessive
ambition to acquire a better job,
more money, or a higher social
status, and creativity is valued
less than productivity.
In Weber’s view, this
disenchantment is the price
modern society pays for the
material gains achieved by
bureaucratic rationalization.
The social changes it causes are
profound, affecting not only our
system of morality but also our
psychological and cultural makeup.
The erosion of spiritual values
means our social actions are
instead based on calculations
of cost and benefit, and become
a matter more of administration
than moral or social guidance.
Social actions and class
While Weber often despaired of the
soulless side of modern society, he
was not completely pessimistic.
Bureaucracies may be difficult to
destroy, but because they are
created by society he believed they
can also be changed by society.
Where Marx had predicted that the
exploitation and alienation of the
proletariat by capitalism would
inevitably lead to revolution,
Weber felt communism led to even
greater bureaucratic control than
capitalism. Instead, he advocated
that within a liberal democracy,
bureaucracy should only have as
much authority as members of
society are prepared to allow it.
This is, he said, determined by the
social actions of individuals as they
try to improve their lives and their
“life chances” (or opportunities).
Just as society had progressed
from the “charismatic” authority of
kinship ties and religion, through
the patriarchal authority of feudal
society, to the modern authority of
rationalization and bureaucracy,
so too individual behavior had
evolved from emotional, traditional,
and value-based social actions
to “instrumental action”—actionFOUNDATIONS OF SOCIOLOGY
based on the assessment of costs
and consequences, which Weber
considered the culmination of
rational conduct. In addition, he
identified three elements of social
stratification in which these social
actions could be taken, affecting
different aspects of a person’s
“life chances." As well as the
economically determined social
class, there is also status class
based on less tangible attributes
such as honor and prestige, and
party class based on political
affiliations. Together these help
the individual to establish a
distinct position in society.A gradual acceptance
Weber’s innovative perspective
formed the foundation of one of the
major approaches to sociology in
the 20th century. By introducing the
idea of a subjective, interpretive ❯❯...what can we oppose to
this machinery... to keep a
portion of mankind free from
this... supreme mastery of
the bureaucratic way of life.
Max Weber