Bureaucracy

 Not the common misconception of ineffectiveness or obstruction to social action/getting

things done
 Not uniquely a public concept – also in private
 Manifestation of social action rooted in rapidly changing social and political world, one
that adopted capitalism and democracy.

Max Weber (Vaber)

 Bureaucracy as a technically superior organizational form
 Satisfied the values of modern society because of its impersonal approach to social
action through rationalization.
 Formal procedures and laws rather than tradition, personality, or charisma for its
legitimacy.
 Impersonality becomes authority; where laws and rational knowledge prevail for guiding
society.
History
 Bureaucracy developed in large part as a result of the social changes brought on by a
shift in society to capitalism. (19th Century)
 Max Weber’s idea of the Protestant Ethic
o Brought about by Protestant or Calvinist practices.
o Hard work and wealth were not to be looked down upon
o Religious person’s pursuit of worldly affairs was not sin – necessary role doing the
work of God.
o Must pursue a secular following.
o At the same time, Protestant religions forbade luxury and waste, but were
encouraged to make money. They began to build wealth, but did not spend it on
luxuries, the church, or the poor. Led to higher levels of savings and investment.
o Protestant work ethic led to materialism and a world view that led away the
spiritualism that characterized Protestantism.
o The spiritual underpinnings of capitalism had been largely eliminated from social
conciseness (Benjamin Franklin, “time is money”)
o Social arrangement independent from religious and traditional systems of order
and authority.
o Capitalism functions the basis of a rationalized world.
 The Disenchantment of the World
 Rationalization of the World (more important)

Disenchantment of the World

 Modernity begins with Industrial Revolution or 1880s. There is a turn away from religion
and traditionalism in how people orient themselves in the world.
 Less about our faith and more about our knowledge and how we explain things using
science. Systematic investigation into the natural world, and eventually the social world.
 Science offers the world an opportunity to understand the world in a rational way, rather
than a magical way.
 Dramatic and influential turn from “magic” (religion) and into a world in which we can
explain things through science.
 Ability to understand the world is now not limited to the magical or religious/spiritual
way, but to understand things and understand how to change things.
 The disenchantment leads to the rationalization of society.
Rationalization of the World
 Rationalization is the historical drive of society so one can master all things through
calculation.
 Implicit belief that through knowledge, human beings can come to understand the
world and become masters of it through calculation.
 Social action is an act that considers the conduct and behavior of individuals.
 Trying to explain is social action that takes into account the conduct and behavior of
individuals.
 Social action has to be justified on the basis of some reason – 4 Types of Rationality
(general justification for a new societal arrangement) What is the basis for
justification of public administration?
 What we are trying to grasp is the general justification for a new societal
arrangement – Public Administration.

Types of Rationality (What justifies Public Administration as a collective enterprise?)

 Instrumental or Purposive Rationality
o Place primary focus on the means to achieve something.
o Social action is guided by the discovery of and use of the proper and efficient
means to achieve a goal.
 Value Rationality
o Places the focus on the end itself (the goal itself)
o Action is determined by an abiding commitment to some belief/value for its own
sake, irrespective of how one would achieve it.
o Upon he goal itself, upon the beliefs or values driving one to act.
 Affectual Rationality
o Action is guided by emotions or feelings.
o Only at the edges of being meaningfully oriented, since emotions are fleeting and
require minimal commitment.
o Sometimes social actions are guided by appeals to emotions, much to detriment.
 Traditional Rationality
o Actions are sometimes guided by established and sometimes difficult to alter
ends and goals.
o Habituation. Conventions.
o The way we doing things.
o May not be emotional, but just the way we’ve committed to doing things here.
The more we elevate a value to an absolute one to a level of commitment that we refuse to
move from, the more irrational we seem. It is merely differently rational. Justifications for
action are just different.

Formal rationality – the condition in which action can be expressed in calculable terms.
 Something that constitutes society. What is required to achieve a defined end.
 Ability to calculate or subject a situation to calculable terms helps to reduce the
uncertainty that accompanies all action.
 When we can make calculations and express our action in calculable terms, we are
reducing the uncertainty of our actions.
 If you know the precise consequences of your action because you have it all calculated
out, then your action is risk-free.
 The calculation enables you to reduce the uncertainty so the decision can be made
about an action with less uncertainty.
 Trying to act with the least amount of uncertainty and least amount of risk, which also
reduces cost (think about insurance and mitigating exposure) Reduction in risk is the
reduction in costs.
 The rise in formal rationality coincides with organized intelligence More information
enables us to make better decisions by reducing risk and making better predictions
about the consequences.

Social action precedes where the means and the ends can be reduced to calculable terms so as
to reduce risk.

The rise of formal rationality coincides with organized intelligence. More information enables
us to make better decisions by reducing risk and make better predictions about the
consequences. Implications for society are changes to authority and government. No longer
based on adherence to the past or enchantment, but instead placed on an impersonal basis. No
person to guide social action, but to intelligence.

Authority is no longer tied to the traditions of the past. Rejected by the rise of science and
capitalism. Impersonal basis
Information and intelligence. Authority is the crux of our reliance upon and our problems with
bureaucracy.
Authority Lecture

3 Types of Authority
 Traditional
o Based upon sanctimonious beliefs
o Established traditions
o Personal
o Social mores and customs
o Obligations are customary; custom of obedience
o Dominant historical form
 Charismatic Authority
o Devotion to the exceptional characteristics of an individual
o Personal
o Ability to illicit personal trust in individuals
o Nascent quality; somewhat ephemeral because it is not based on anything
established like a traditional or impersonal legal system
o May not even last past a generation; must be converted in some way to last.
o Unique quality of disrupting the status quo
 Rational-Legal Authority
o Belief in a system of rules that the actions that are undertaken are take in
accordance with enacted procedures and restrictions
o Procedures are established and rules are being followed
o Distinction from the other two forms in that obedience is not owed to any one
person but to a legally established order.
o Impersonal
o Considered the modern form by Weber

Authority
 Authority is not of any substance without an administrative apparatus in place to
enforce commands.
o In traditional authority, you can picture the court of ministers that serve the
monarch
o Under rational legal, the administrative apparatus is bureaucracy understood in a
very particular way
 Impersonal system of order arranged according to technical rules, norms,
and laws
 Bureaucracy is an arrangement that allowed for getting things done
 Administrative matters getting done without giving any specific additional
powers to an individual
 As a result, bureaucracy is seen as being democratic
 Rational Legal Authority
o The rules rule and not the people
Bureaucracy
 Fixed and official jurisdiction areas
o Rule of law
o Regular and regulated activities are fixed into official duties MODERN
OFFICIALDOM
 The authority to give commands is strictly delimited by rules.
 The commend structure is ordered so that the authority is always clear
and known
 Activity is regular and predictable
 People are acting under the authority granted to them by rules
 When an individual is acting within the proper bureaucratic procedure it
is not a free act, it is an act obligated by rules.
 Allows us to be able to predict the operations of bureaucracy and to know
how the bureaucracy best functions.
 Fixed and official jurisdiction areas is the first big step in establishing
modern formal bureaucracy. Only possible in advanced capitalist states.
Advanced capitalist states accept there is a division of labor.
 Hierarchy (monocratic)
o Singular power of coordination
 One person who is in charge, leader
 Pyramid
o Bureaucracies are still constituted of people, inescapably.
o While there is a single person who might be responsible for managing, it does
not mean this individual has a great deal of discernment or the ability of make
decisions on a whim because he/she is following general and learnable rules
o Established rules and the knowledge of rules is special technical learning
o Knowing the rules is very important and knowing them is a special technical skill
individuals possess
 Documentation (or the files)
o Legibility describes the way to understand how it is that the state can see and
view all the operations under the egis of the authority
o Being able to prove your status
o Reveals both action as well as possible action
o *The files themselves create a permanence – the files themselves are a
permanent material of bureaucracy in both a physical and social sense
o People can go back and see and justify decisions that were made
o Documentation is a key aspect of bureaucracy and its proper operation
 Officials as Expert (Expertise)
o Officials within bureaucracy are considered to be experts
o Held in high social esteem
o Receive specialized training to carry out and fulfill their established jurisdictional
responsibilities
o Appointed by a superior authority
 o Expertise within a bureaucracy comes with ones experience in the agency and
the gradual acquaintance with the rules
o Knowledge of the rules is so important and qualifies them for new positions
within the bureaucracy
o Idea of tenure: understanding the rules and maintaining the positions. Idea of
tenure for life. Based upon seniority.
 Full Capacity of the Individual (Vocation)
o Pursues this type of work as a vocation
o It is a calling
o Fulfilling the official business as a primary role
 Rule-bound management of office
o Stable, exhaustive aspect of rules in the office
o Commands do not come from individuals, they come from abstract regulation.
They apply to all.
o Top is still bound by the rules

Bureaucracy itself is a technically superior form of organization. The system is the best form of
organizational type for the achievement of collective goals in a mechanical manner based on
the principles of formal rationality.

**The reason bureaucracy is so technically superior is because of the unambiguous discharging

of duties, that the rules rule and not the people.**

Bureaucracy operates without regard for persons. (impersonal). Without anger or bias.
Proceeds strictly on the basis of rules, not bias or preference. They are dehumanized.

The special virtue of bureaucracy is dehumanization. It’s a matter of calculation, not opinion or
bias. Rule-bound.

Bureaucracy is the only option according to Weber.

Bureaucracy is not only isolated to government and large corporations. The whole pattern of
life. Everything within our lives is becoming bureaucratized because from a formal technical
perspective, this is how we achieve rationality within society.

Bureaucracy has a kind of permanence in society. Modernity is based upon the bureaucratic
form of authority. Bureaucracy is the means of carrying community action over into rationally
ordered societal action. Fate of masses depends on bureaucracy. Our material fate is based on
the success of bureaucracy.

Bureaucracy dissuades revolution because it is everywhere in society, its fully permeated.

Rather it could be a series of coup d’état, cutting off the head and replacing another one.
The permanence of bureaucracy speaks to the close alliance between bureaucratization and
capitalism, and also how capitalism is tied so closely to formal rationality.

Bureaucracy is a precision instrument. It cannot be eliminated from society.

Democracy actually promoted the emergence of a bureaucracy because democracy shunned

the importance of personal authority and had to replace it with something. What emerged to
replace it was rational legal authority.
Woodrow Wilson, Part I

Essay written 1885-86, published in 1887 when he was a professor at Bryn Mawr College.
Wilson’s essay is about his ideas of the role of public administration in modern society and how
the US can create a system that both satisfies the needs and objective of a modern government
in an increasingly complex society, while not straying too far from republicanism and the ethos
of democracy itself.

The development of Public administration is referenced as an expression of science in practice,

which is what administration in it’s ideal form looks like. It Is a practical science.
 Knowledge of the world that we have achieved through observation and calculation.
 Turn that into action

The Science of Public Administration (Wilson)

What three components that science makes possible in a social world?
 Prediction
o General conceit that once you come to understand the dynamics of a
phenomenon, you can reasonably predict the outcome given your actions.
Cause – effect logic. Basic foundation of the means and end type relationship
identified as instrumental rationality when discussion Weber.
o If you want to take an action, you want to know what effects will generate.
 Control
o Allows us to understand the dynamics in such a way that we can manipulate
these conditions to get an outcome we desire.
o Allows us to improve upon current conditions.
 Generalizable techniques
o The techniques are independent of what we want of them
o Independent of judgement or bias and general

Wilson’s interpretation of Administration

 There is a need and desirability of developing a scientific approach to Public
Administration
 In the late 1800s Wilson saw an opportunity to develop administration within an
established and legitimate state that was premised upon democratic values and
principles.
 This was not an opportunity seized in the past because the US leaders were merely
trying to establish the Constitution and the boundaries and content of the state itself,
where the state fit in the social world.
 Very little reference to Administration in the Constitution itself.
 The Constitution was the framework and boundaries, but not necessarily how the State
would conduct itself, which is the question of Administration.
  In his essay, Wilson writes that most political writers up to his point were mostly
concerned with the constitution of government – what is the state? What this the
power of the people? What is the purpose of government? No one wrote systematically
of administration until after the first 100 years.
 Wilson refers to the idea of knowledge being independent of a person, of authority
itself. Knowledge is an authority in and of itself.
 Although the US is advanced in its understanding of politics and in the meaning of the
state, it lacked in administrative skill. Likely a product of our constitution.

Wilson’s 3 Periods of Government

 1st Phase
o Absolute rulership with administration
o The entirety of political power and sovereignty was vested in a single individual
or group of individuals and their authority supervened over the people.
o Able to organize an effective administrative apparatus.
o What was seen throughout most of human history.
nd
 2 Period (Popular sovereignty)
o Occurs when the people overthrow that absolute rulership.
o Birth of popular sovereignty, which emerges in the late 1700s
o Lack of administration
o Receipted sovereignty, power, and authority, but lack the capacity and ability to
get anything done.
o We the people have the power, but not the ability to use that power, while
absolute rulers had a very clear mode of using their political power, which was
administration.
 3rd Period
o Popular sovereignty with administration
o Once we have settled the political questions, we can proceed in a systemic way
along administrative lines to achieve our goals.
o The question about what constitutes the state have been settled.
o Legitimacy and authority reside with the people, so we need to investigate how
to achieve the goals of the popular sovereignty.
o Politics themselves, one we have settled on that, we are able to develop ana
administrative system to achieve the goals that the political system has
established. Ongoing process.
o Importance of developing administrative capacity within the state in the 1880s.

Wilson’s observations
 People becoming increasingly reliant on the state, and this alone was enough to justify
the development of an administrative capacity.
 Majorities conduct government now
 Because majorities now conduct government, it opens the opportunity for the state to
essentially be doing more things, more things to satisfy the desires of the majority itself.
 It doesn’t matter who the sovereign is, whether popular or not, the business methods of
administration are the same – they translate across political identity.
 We pursue principles of administration
o We compare our governments to other. His scientific approach is comparative.
o The business methods are relevant no matter who the sovereign is
o The presumption is that the administration of two governments is based on the
same core principles independent of values
 A Prussian road-building exercise is the same as an American road
building exercise, though there might be some different political
objectives associated with it. How to build it is the same, though.
 Story of the knife sharpener
o Monarchies themselves demonstrate capabilities the US can develop without
becoming monarchial.
o You can borrow the knife sharpening skills of a murderer to sharpen knives
without having the intention to kill others.
o We can take the technique without the same intention or outcome
o I do not have to give up my credentials as a republican to when I look to what
monarchies can achieve in the world.
 Wilson’s problem
o The objectives of an administrative system are derived from that political sphere.
o Monarchies have an advantage because there is a single mind who directs what
needs to be done. A Republic or democracy you have a multitudinous monarch
of the people about what to govern and how to govern.
o There is a relationship between politics and administration
o Administration is the central function for solving the problem of popular
sovereignty.
o Once we learn how best to govern, this knowledge of how best to govern should
then in this reverse engineering process determine the objectives and roles and
the functions of this multitudinous monarch (the people).
o To put it coarsely, we need to be able to communicate with people what is
actually possible.
o Contemporary example: Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign to “drain the swamp,”
which is essentially about getting rid of the so-called bureaucrats, but also phases
and new movements about what the role of administration and new public
management.
 Best ways of achieving goals
o Single best way of doing something.
o Mechanical view of the world that resembles the market view of administration.
o More competition that we put agencies in with each other, the more likely we
are to find the best ways to achieve whatever goals we have for ourselves.
o Belief that once we’ve settled on these constitutional principles, we have to
develop a capacity within the administrative realm that can then inform what is
possible within the political realm.
 o It’s far more difficult to organize administration in a democracy than it is within a
monarchy.
o To alleviate this issue, administration is separated from politics so that the values
of society are determined in the political arena and administrative arena is
concerned with the execution.
 Politics administration dichotomy which is not linear.
 Politics is an essential aspect of our new government and when we find that
administration plays that role of influencing and directing our political imagination, you
can see how people respond to that, which is to reject the administrative roles and the
bureaucrats to “drain the swamp” and seek out new possibilities.
Woodrow Wilson and Public Administration, Part II

The purpose of Wilson’s essay was to diveinto the heart of Public Administration and the role it
plays in society and complex government.

Legitimacy and authority are intrinsic problems within modernity because we (at the time) have
developed a new way of thinking about authority, the notion of legal, rational authority and the
sense that the rules rule people, not the people.

We can look to authoritarian societies without sacrificing the Republic because they have
generalizable techniques, in the scientific sense. We can look to those techniques and apply
them independent of value or what is at the core of the political direction provided by that
regime.

Sovereignty – What is sovereignty? What power does sovereignty entail? Why does it matter in
the political sphere?
 Power to make the rules of collective, shared life.
 Autonomy is considered an important political concept within the liberal sphere of
political theory.
o Autonomy s considered important because it is the power to make the rules for
ones lives.
o An independence of the overarching rules of a political sovereignty
o Absolute autonomy is impossible.
o Autonomy is an extremely restrictive framework – a kind of fiction in the societal
power structures.
o The societal power structures that we are born into are not ones that we can
easily escape, and it is possible for society leveraging power or influencing
individuals to shape our ideas and desires. We’re always subject to the
influences of society.
o In a secular society, faith and religious guidance were no longer the stronghold to
shape and guide our moral framework to live in the world, but in the
Disenchanted world, we no longer regard that type of power and authority with
the faith and commitment that we once did.

Propaganda
 Manipulating people into wanting things, believing things, dressing a certain way. This is
a way to find ourselves impossibly autonomous.
 Recognition there is some force or power to bring people in line. In the past, it would
have been a religious authority, but now it has been more secular.
 We are subject to biases and we are not especially good decision-makers.

How to run a constitution becomes more important than what is the constitution.
Need new guides to navigate the new territory
3 periods of growth
1. Absolute rulers
a. Strong functioning and administrative system.
b. Carry out the declaration of the ruler.
2. Popular Sovereignty
a. Revolution
b. Democracy
c. Emerges without administration
d. Undertake to develop administration
3. Popular sovereignty with administration
a. When the people have to create the administration within the framework
b. Aligning with the political principles

Wilson sees administration not only as a scientific endeavor, but also as necessary product of
historical forces where questions about what government looks like recedes and give way to
how to run a government.

His essay says we (the People) have established the principles but we should be creating
administrating. We are not prepared for the task at hand to create the administration within
the framework of the established principles.

Neutrality is primarily about the administration being independent from public opinion.
Independent of themselves. Popular sovereignty is a problem of creating administration. Public
administration needs to be
 Free in spirit
 Proficient in practice

Popular sovereignty obstructs the science of an administration. Why? Masses are not singular
of mind. Multitudinous monarch.

He is not saying monarchy is superior to popular sovereignty, rather he is saying that it is a

challenge to overcome.

So this is the problem that Wilson faces and this is where his progressivism really becomes
evident in the essay because there are these exceptional figures who seek progressive change
what he calls the reformers. They are looking to guide society.

There is no single person in a democracy to look to for guidance on the goal, because it is a
collective people, whereas a single ruler would be able to be sought out, per se.

Reformers are there to manipulate public opinion. Convince them to listen. Listen to the right
things. Stir public opinion, then manage to put the right opinion in its way. See to it that the
public opinion sees your way.
Popular sovereignty is a problem that needs to be solved, but it is superior to an absolute ruler.
The bulk of mankind is rigidly unphilosophical and nowadays the bulk of mankind votes. Wilson
infers skepticism the will of people to do what must be done, even if it is evident and clear, even
if the solutions are patently obvious and incontrovertible, only if they were impelled to act.

Wilson’s essay is about managing democracy. He is convinced of the need to convert citizens
from ignorant, foolish and stubborn masses to informed citizenry.

Wilson believes reformers can help the public see the right path.
Module Objectives

1) Identify the core features of bureaucracy.

a) Official jurisdiction areas, which are generally ordered by rules, laws or
administrative regulations
i) Regular activities for the purpose of bureaucratically governed structure are
assigned as official duties
ii) The authority to give commands required for the duties is strictly delimited by
the rules.
iii) Experts who qualify under the rules are regularly employed to carry out the
fulfillment of duties.
b) Office hierarchy (and channels of appeal)
i) System of super- and sub-ordination in which the is supervision of the lower
offices by the higher ones.
ii) Offers the governed the opportunity for appeal in a precisely regulated
manner.
iii) Office hierarchy is monocratically organized.
c) Written documents (files)
i) Management is based upon written documentation, which are preserved.
ii) The body of officials in a working agency along with their respective apparatus
of material elements and files make up a bureau.
d) Office Management
i) Thorough training in a field of specialization
e) Full Working Capacity
i) Official business is the primary activity.
ii) Not limited by the number of obligatory hours
f) Office Management follows general rules.
i) Stable, exhaustive rules which can be learned.
ii) Knowledge of the rules represents a special technical expertise which the
officials possess.
iii) Theory of modern public administration assumes that the authority to order
certain matters by decree, as legally granted to the agency, allows the agency
to regulate abstractly, not by individual commands.

2) Describe the comparative approach of public administration.

3) Explain the idea of dehumanization.
4) Explain the distinction between politics and administration.
The stalking of Kristin

Failures of bureaucracy:

1. Communication between agencies under the state (“operating in a vacuum”)

a. Mental health struggles and history not related from various agencies to
the courts, who allowed him to attend an “Alternatives to Violence” course
in lieu of jail time. (p. 20)
b. Criminal history did not show up with the restraining order.
2. Prescribed rules often prevented action by individuals with perceived authority.
a. Probation officer could not revoke probation based on an anonymous caller
b. Could not take any action because she was not the victim of the case they
were supervising (p. 20)
3. Office hierarchy – Jurisdictional competency; Specialization
a. Application was still sitting in the clerk’s office (p.22)
b.