Bureaucracy

Fülszöveg

Bureaucracy We create images of bureaucracy partly from experience, and partly from reflecting on the experience. This, and the implications of a sociological approach to the study of bureaucracy* are the theme of this book. Starting with Alan Dawe's ideas in The Two Socio/ogies (British Journal of Sociology), Mr. Warwick analyses the contradictions in Weber's discussions of bureaucracy and the problems of theory and method that arise from this. He thinks somé sociologists have missed the point. For Weber, bureaucracy and bureaucratjsation are concepts that involve an analysis of the whole of industrial society and not just the organisations within it. Mr. Warwick alsó says that somé accounts have been inadequate because debates on method have overlaid debates on theory. He concludes with an analysis of educational institutions in modern Britain, emphasising the proceSs structures activated by dominant coalitions, the means by which their decisions are transmitted as definitions to... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Bureaucracy We create images of bureaucracy partly from experience, and partly from reflecting on the experience. This, and the implications of a sociological approach to the study of bureaucracy* are the theme of this book. Starting with Alan Dawe's ideas in The Two Socio/ogies (British Journal of Sociology), Mr. Warwick analyses the contradictions in Weber's discussions of bureaucracy and the problems of theory and method that arise from this. He thinks somé sociologists have missed the point. For Weber, bureaucracy and bureaucratjsation are concepts that involve an analysis of the whole of industrial society and not just the organisations within it. Mr. Warwick alsó says that somé accounts have been inadequate because debates on method have overlaid debates on theory. He concludes with an analysis of educational institutions in modern Britain, emphasising the proceSs structures activated by dominant coalitions, the means by which their decisions are transmitted as definitions to the actors in society, the attempt to secure their compliance and the legal structure by which sanctions for noncompliance can be applied. Thus he shows that questions about bureaucracy are really questions about power and the problem of control. Dennis Warwick is currently preparing a Ph.D. thesis on the role of the studentteacher. He studied at Durham University for four years, and when he left taught in northern Grammar Schools for fifteen years. Involvement in youth work, religious and political activity have alsó constituted important influences in his approach to a study of bureaucracy. Social Structure of Modern Britain Vissza