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Bureaucracy
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For other uses, see Bureaucracy (disambiguation).
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A bureaucracy is "a body of nonelective government officials" and/or "an administrative policy-making group."[1] Historically, bureaucracy referred to government administration managed by departments staffed with nonelected officials.[2] In modern parlance, bureaucracy refers to the administrative system governing any large institution.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

Since being coined, the word "bureaucracy" has developed negative connotations for some.[9] Bureaucracies are criticized for their complexity, their inefficiency, and their inflexibility.[10] The dehumanizing effects of excessive bureaucracy were a major theme in the work of Franz Kafka, and were central to his masterpiece The Trial.[11] The elimination of unnecessary bureaucracy is a key concept in modern managerial theory,[12] and has been a central issue in numerous political campaigns.[13]

Others have defended the existence of bureaucracies. The German sociologist Max Weber argued that bureaucracy constitutes the most efficient and rational way in which human activity can be organized, and that systematic processes and organized hierarchies were necessary to maintain order, maximize efficiency and eliminate favoritism.[14] But even Weber saw bureaucracy as a threat to individual freedom, in which the increasing bureaucratization of human life traps individuals in an "iron cage" of rule-based, rational control.[15][16]

Contents

1 Etymology and usage 2 History 2.1 Modern bureaucracy 3 Theories of bureaucracy 3.1 Karl Marx 3.2 John Stuart Mill 3.3 Max Weber 3.4 Woodrow Wilson

References: Jump up ^ "Bureaucracy Definition". Investopedia. 2009-09-04. Retrieved 2013-05-26. Jump up ^ Philip K. Howard (2012). "To Fix America 's Education Bureaucracy, We Need to Destroy It". The Atlantic. Jump up ^ Devin Dwyer (2009). "Victims of 'Health Insurance Bureaucracy ' Speak Out". ABC News. Jump up ^ David Martin (2010). "Gates Criticizes Bloated Military Bureaucracy". CBS News. Jump up ^ "How to bend the rules of corporate bureaucracy". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. 2002-11-08. Retrieved 2013-05-26. ^ Jump up to: a b J.C.N. Raadschelders (1998). Handbook of Administrative History. Transaction Publishers. p. 142. Jump up ^ Wren, Daniel & Bedeian, Arthur (2009). "Chapter 10:The Emergence of the Management Process and Organization Theory". The Evolution of Management Thought. Wiley. Jump up ^ Garrett et al. (2006). Assessing the Impact of Bureaucracy Bashing by Electoral Campaigns. Jump up ^ [1][dead link] ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Richard Swedberg; Ola Agevall (2005) ^ Jump up to: a b Ludwig von Mises (1944). Bureaucracy. Retrieved 12 October 2012. ^ Jump up to: a b Robert K. Merton (1957). Social Theory and Social Structure. Glencoe, IL;Free Press. pp. 195–206. Retrieved 12 October 2012. Jump up ^ "Byzantine - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary". Merriam-webster.com. 2012-08-31. Retrieved 2013-05-26. Jump up ^ Mote, Frederick W. (2003-11-15). Imperial China: 900-1800. Harvard University Press. pp. 313–. ISBN 978-0-674-01212-7. Retrieved 7 February 2013. ^ Jump up to: a b c McKnight, Brian E. (1983-02-15). Village and Bureaucracy in Southern Sung China. University of Chicago Press. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-226-56060-1. Retrieved 7 February 2013. Jump up ^ Niall Ferguson (2013). The Cash Nexus: Money and Politics in Modern History, 1700-2000. Penguin UK. Retrieved 2013-02-07. Jump up ^ Linda Weiss, John Hobson (1995). States and Economic Development: A Comparative Historical Analysis. Wiley. Retrieved 2013-02-07. Jump up ^ Walker, David (2003-07-09). "Fair game". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2003-07-09. Jump up ^ Karl Marx (1970). "3A". Marx 's Critique of Hegel 's Philosophy of Right (1843). Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 12 October 2012. Jump up ^ John Stuart Mill (1861). "VI—Of the Infirmities and Dangers to which Representative Government is Liable". Considerations on Representative Government. Retrieved 12 October 2012. ^ Jump up to: a b George Ritzer (29 September 2009). Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics. McGraw-Hill. pp. 38–42. ISBN 978-0-07-340438-7. Retrieved 22 March 2011. Jump up ^ Liesbet Hooghe (2001). The European Commission and the integration of Europe: images of governance. Cambridge University Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-521-00143-4. Retrieved 23 March 2011. Albrow, Martin. Bureaucracy. London: Macmillan, 1970. Kingston, Ralph. Bureaucrats and Bourgeois Society: Office Politics and Individual Credit, 1789-1848. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. On Karl Marx: Hal Draper, Karl Marx 's Theory of Revolution, Volume 1: State and Bureaucracy. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1979. Ernest Mandel, Power and Money: A Marxist Theory of Bureaucracy. London: Verso, 1992. On Weber: Watson, Tony J. (1980). Sociology, Work and Industry. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-32165-4. Neil Garston (ed.), Bureaucracy: Three Paradigms. Boston: Kluwer, 1993. Chowdhury, Faizul Latif (2006), Corrupt Bureaucracy and Privatization of Tax Enforcement. Dhaka: Pathak Samabesh, ISBN 984-8120-62-9. Ludwig von Mises, Bureaucracy, Yale University Press, 1962. Liberty Fund (2007), ISBN 978-0-86597-663-4 Weber, Max Wilson, James Q. (1989). Bureaucracy. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-00785--6.