SOC 233 Lecture Notes - Copywriting, Verstehen, Pessimism
Document Summary
General, or formal bureaucracy is the one weber prioritizes focus on formal bureaucracy. Once bureaucracies are established, they are almost indestructible and inescapable. The reason they are indestructible is because they are the most efficient; it is difficult to replace them with a different system. In its effort to be so efficient, we get ourselves trapped within the bureaucracy. Rationalization and the iron cage roles, regulations and restrictions. Rationalization: process whereby an increasing number of social actions and interactions become based on considerations of efficiency or calculation rather than on motivations derived from custom, tradition or emotion. The increasing rationalization of human life, traps individuals in an iron cage of rule-based, rational control. Bureaucracies driven through a process of rationalization. Rationalization is part of modernization and this is especially prominent in a capitalist market. Note weber believes rationalization defines modern society. Void of mystery, emotion, tradition, etc. that are important in human contact and interaction (i. e. , relationships).
