Complete the account of the model.
Weber's bureaucracy is an ______ type, a construction real cases are measured against. Its official holds office by demonstrated ______, decides according to general rules, and records decisions in ______. Weber warned that rationalisation produces an iron ______.
Word bank: ideal · qualification · files · cage · actual · seniority
Hints
- The first blank is what stops the model being a description.
- The last blank is Weber's most quoted metaphor.
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Weber's bureaucracy is an ideal type, a construction real cases are measured against. Its official holds office by demonstrated qualification, decides according to general rules, and records decisions in files. Weber warned that rationalisation produces an iron cage.
The first blank is the one that changes how everything else is read. An ideal type is built to be compared against, so "real bureaucracies are not like this" is the expected finding rather than an objection, and the interesting question is always which feature a given administration is missing.
Practise The Weberian Model of Bureaucracy
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