Max Weber and Bureaucracy

Question 1

Weber viewed the institutions of capitalism as?

Answer 1

The very embodiment of rationality

Question 2

In what ways did the bureaucracy of the state rival the large corporation?

Answer 2

• promoting efficiency,
• continuity of operation
• speed,
• precision
• calculation of results

Question 3

Weber’s concept of rational bureaucracy was played off of…

Answer 3

the Marxist concept of the class struggle

Question 4

What were Weber’s view on class struggle?

Answer 4

He did not deny it’s part in history but also did not see it as the central dynamic

Question 5

Weber saw nothing attractive in socialism but…

Answer 5

…did not deny the possibility of socializing the means of production

Question 6

What was the most general element in Weber’s philosophy of history?

Answer 6

The principle of rationalization

Question 7

What things did Weber say “implement the general drift of secular rationalization”?

Answer 7

• The rise and fall of institutional structures
• The ups and downs of classes
• Parties and rulers

Question 8

What was Weber’s balancing conception for bureaucracy?

Answer 8

The concept of charisma

Question 9

Self appointed leaders who were followed by those in distress, and those who believed the leader to be extraordinarily qualified are characterized by…?

Answer 9

Charisma

Question 10

Traditional Authority is based on…?

Answer 10

prior recognition and a habitual orientation to conform

Question 11

Charismatic Authority is based on…?

Answer 11

personal devotion and personal confidence in revelation, heroism or other qualities of individual leadership

Question 12

Rational-legal authority is based on…?

Answer 12

the belief in the validity of legal statute and functional competence based on rationally-created rules. in this case, obedience is expected in discharging statuatory obligations

Question 13

How did Weber view the bureaucracy?

Answer 13

as a servant of the government, a means by which a monarchy, aristocracy, democracy, or other form of government, can rule

Question 14

those who invented the word Bureaucracy…

Answer 14

wanted to suggest that the servant was trying to become the master

Question 15

Officially and in theory, the bureaucracy is…?

Answer 15

merely a means of getting policy direction and implementing policies

Question 16

What did Weber theorize to be at the heart of modern society?

Answer 16

Rational action within a system of rational-legal authority

Question 17

In an attempt to understand the causes of change in Western society Weber did what?

Answer 17

examined the religious and economic systems of many civilizations

Question 18

In his analysis of different systems Weber concluded that…?

Answer 18

the bureaucracy tends to result in oligarchy - rule by the few officials at the top of the organization

Question 19

Weber saw that in a society dominated by large formal organizations,

Answer 19

there is a danger that social, political and economic power will become concentrated in the hands of the few who hold high positions in the most influential of these organizations

Question 20

The [corrupted] bureaucracy ?

Answer 20

can undermine both human freedom and democracy in the long run

Question 21

Weber was concerned with the meaning people gave to their actions…

Answer 21

which allowed him to understand the meaning of historical change

Question 22

Weber assumed that the Protestant Ethic…?

Answer 22

broke the hold of tradition while it encouraged mankind to apply themselves rationally to their work

Question 23

What was the Protestant ethic?

Answer 23

a religiously anchored theory about the calling and drive for continuous work in mankind

Question 24

How did Marx and Weber disagree in the explanation for the reason for work in a capitalist society?

Answer 24

• Marx argued that people worked because they had no choice but to sell their labor for a wage
• Weber argued that people were naturally driven to work because of the protestant ethic