Bureaucracy

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Bureaucracy has two principal meanings in contemporary social science. In the tradition established by Max Weber the term refers to an ideal type of rational authority and rule-based organization, as compared to traditional or charismatic authority and organization. Weber's original frame of reference was the Prussian (and later, German) civil service. [1] In political science, terms like "the bureaucracy" and "the federal bureaucracy" or "state bureaucracy" largely embrace the Weberian meaning and adds an additional connotation of systems of formally or rule-based coordination between distinct or distinguishable organizations. [2]

References

  1. Weber, Max. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Translated by G. Roth and C. Wittich. New York: Bedminster Press, 1968.
  2. See for example, Woll, Peter. American Bureaucracy. 2d ed. New York: Norton, 1977.