Iron Cage

Iron cage

Weber saw the 'rationalisation' of life as the key difference between pre modern and modern life. He felt divided by this. On one hand it brought the foundation for an equal and efficient society.

The culture and benefits of our increasing rational society he saw as being provided through having everything processed through bureaucracies rather than religions and powerful monarchs.

But this is the problem ..bureaucracies, in the cause of being rational, are impersonal, use logic not sentiment(emotion), so we are also becoming trapped by this heartless 'iron cage' in hospitals, schools, work places, the police force, banks, supermarkets, planning departments, anywhere that bureaucracies run the show and make the decisions.

So we are in danger of becoming 'estranged' from our humanity by 'rationalism' - treated as cogs in a bureaucratic machine - not as complex human beings who have sensibilities and hearts. For example, if I phone the telephone company because they didn't get my last payment, even though I sent it - I can spend all day on the phone being passed from one specialist to another because no one in that bureaucratic telephone organisation says they are the specialist I need to talk to

Weber on Bureaucracy

Max Weber (1864 - 1920) developed the concept of bureaucracy as a formal system of organisation and administration designed to ensure efficiency and effectiveness §Weber considered bureaucracy to be a highly efficient form of organisation §He identified three types of legitimate authority: –Traditional authority – associated with hereditary power –Rational-legal authority – associated with bureaucracies –Charismatic authority – when the individual has special personal qualities that inspire others to do what the individual asks. §In an industrialised society, rational-legal