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Bureaucracy and “The Organization Man”

Steven Seidman Michael Gruber

• University of Virginia New School for Social Research and College of New Rochelle

“Capitalism and Individuation in the Sociology of Max Weber.” British Journal of Sociology 28 (December 1977): 498–508.

Sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) posed a crucial question: “Given this overwhelming tendency toward bureaucratisation, how is it still possible at all to preserve any sense of ‘individualistic freedom of movement’...” This commitment to individual autonomy, argue the authors, is what motivated Weber in his studies of modern capitalism.

Weber identified two decisive factors in the development of modern capitalism in the West: (1) The growth of Protestant ‘inner-worldly asceticism’ overturned the religious bias against worldly economics, and (2) The existence in the West of competing political and social authorities prevented the totalizing control of a monolithic empire.

A central theme in Weber's work is “the significance he attaches to the break-through from particularistic-prescriptive structures (clan-caste) with their in group-out group morality to communal-associational structures which embody a universal ethic.” “In the west clan ties were replaced by military, territorial, and juridical associations.” Helping to promote individuation, the “Christian ethic of universal brotherhood replaced the in group-out group dualistic ethic.”

However, the final steps in the direction of rational economic activity ushered in by the Reformation were to break down the priest/laity dichotomy and to spiritually reconcile the tensions between the Christian ethic of universal brotherhood and the purposive-rational conduct of other orders in society. Weber's analysis of the social origin of the bourgeoisie in the medieval city shows how the city provided a favorable climate for the systematic rationalization of administration, commercial life, science, art, and theology.

In addition, the expansion of capitalism necessitates an increasingly rational and efficient organization of social relations—in short, increased bureaucratization. However, Weber realized that impersonal bureaucracies would inevitably lead to a loss of autonomy “by the individual in the face of technically calculated production and consumption and impersonally formalised integration.”