Classic Studies of Bureaucracy
Max Weber
Criteria for Defining Bureaucracy
- Administrative offices are organized hierarchically.
- Each office has its own area of competence.
- Civil servants are appointed on the basis of technical qualifications.
- Civil servants receive fixed salaries according to rank.
- The job is a career and the sole employment of the civil servant.
- The official does not own his/her office.
- The official is subject to control and discipline.
- Promotion is based on superiors’ judgment.
Wilson and Goodnow
- Concerns about administration and accountability
- Distinction between political functions (policymaking) and administration (enforcement) functions
Guy S. Claire
- "Administocracies" - rule by administrators
- political/adminstrative distinction not real
- policy being made by essentially unaccountable bureaucrats