Life With Bureaucracies

Part I of Essay
Primary groups, which are parents, relatives, and friends, play an important role in our lives. Today, however, we spend most of our time in secondary groups such as schools, factories, government offices, or banks. We refer to these types of organizations as formal organ ....

Part II of Essay
.... and are based on specific rules of procedure. Weber recognized that bureaucracies existed in preindustrial societies such as ancient Egypt, ancient China, and in the Roman and Byzantine empires. It was not until recently, however, with the emergence of large societies based on complex technologies, that bureaucracies come to permeate people’s daily lives. The reason seems simple. Spontaneous, casual, and personal relationships, such as those found in primary groups, are inefficient when it comes to coordinating the activities of larg ....