Bureaucratization

Max Weber. 1.

Life and Career Karl Emil Maximilian Weber (1864–1920) was born in the Prussian city of Erfurt to a family of notable heritage. His father, Max Sr., came from a Westphalian family of merchants and industrialists in the textile business and went on to become a National Liberal parliamentarian of some note in Wilhelmine politics. His mother, Helene, came from the Fallenstein and Souchay families, both of the long illustrious Huguenot line, which had for generations produced public servants and academicians.

His younger brother, Alfred, was an influential political economist and sociologist, too. Educated mainly at the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin, Weber was trained in law, eventually writing his Habilitationsschrift on Roman law and agrarian history under August Meitzen, a prominent political economist of the time. After this stint essentially as a private scholar, he slowly resumed his participation in various academic and public activities. 2. 2.2 Ethics: Kant and Nietzsche. Professionalization. History[edit] Professionalization is the social process by which any trade or occupation transforms itself into a true "profession of the highest integrity and competence.

"[1] This process tends to involve establishing acceptable qualifications, a professional body or association to oversee the conduct of members of the profession and some degree of demarcation of the qualified from unqualified amateurs. This creates "a hierarchical divide between the knowledge-authorities in the professions and a deferential citizenry. Eliot Freidson (1923–2005) is considered one of the founders of the sociology of professions [15] Very little professions existed before the 19th century, although most of the societies always valued someone who was competent and skilled in a particular discipline. This gave women room to enter the work force as men were too busy to meet the needs of the community.

Professions began to emerge rapidly. Social Theory 2012: [2-20] Weber II: Bureaucracy and Politics Archives. In his essay Bureaucracy, Max Weber thoroughly discusses the bureaucratic ideal type.

Bureaucracy, according to Weber, is the most rational, capitalistic form of administration. Everything in a bureaucratic system is guided by fixed, general rules. Officials are hired according to set standards, perform designated duties, and interact through an unchanging pyramid of (rational) authority. The appointment, rather than election, of employees guarantees their quality and reinforces their subservience to their superiors. Bureaucrats are set apart from the rest of the population (the proletariat, if you will) by the vocational nature of their occupation, the determination of salary by rank and age (rather than productivity), and by the expectation of lifetime tenure with promotions.

Weber's theory has several ties to Marxist thought. Weber's concept of status is quite distinct from, yet complimentary to, that of class. Blog Post #4: Institutional Analysis: Dimaggio and Powell - Social Theory 2012. 2.

DiMaggio and Powell define isomorphism as a process of interaction that forces one thing to resemble another or other things that face the same conditions. This leads to the homogenization of things as being similar in nature. For example, organizations try to resemble more successful organization of the same status hoping to be as successful if not more successful. According to DiMaggio and Powell, the three mechanisms of institutional isomorphic change are coercive isomorphism, mimetic isomorphism, and normative isomorphism. "Coercive isomorphism results from both formal and informal pressures exerted on organizations by other organizations upon which they are dependent and by cultural expectations in the society within which organizations function" (150). McDonaldization. Aspects[edit] Ritzer highlighted four primary components of McDonaldization: Efficiency – the optimal method for accomplishing a task.

In this context, Ritzer has a very specific meaning of "efficiency". In the example of McDonald's customers, it is the fastest way to get from being hungry to being full. Efficiency in McDonaldization means that every aspect of the organization is geared toward the minimization of time.[3]Calculability – objective should be quantifiable (e.g., sales) rather than subjective (e.g., taste). With these four principles of the fast food industry, a strategy which is rational within a narrow scope can lead to outcomes that are harmful or irrational.

George Ritzer. George Ritzer (born 1940) is an American sociologist, professor, and author who studies globalization, metatheory, patterns of consumption, and modern and postmodern social theory.

His most notable contribution to date is his concept of McDonaldization, which draws upon Max Weber's idea of rationalization through the lens of the fast food industry. Currently, Ritzer is a Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park. Early life[edit] Ritzer was born in 1940 to a Jewish family in New York City. His father worked as a taxi cab driver and his mother was employed as a secretary in order to support Ritzer and his younger brother. Education and early employment[edit] George Ritzer graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1958.[3] He described it as a great experience, claiming to have, "encountered the brightest people I have ever met in my life”.[2] Ritzer began his higher education at City College of New York. Academic employment[edit] Ritzer's Main Ideas[edit] George Ritzer.