What is bureaucracy? According to one of the founders of sociology, Max Weber, bureaucracy is “the purest type of exercise of legal authority” (Weber 126). By this, Weber basically means that it is a form of ideal type, which helps us see how things are based on the characteristics that we know. In order to identify something as being a form of bureaucracy, Weber came up with seven characteristics that define bureaucracy. The seven characteristics of bureaucracy are; organization of offices bound by rules, offices have special tasks, are hierarchical, carry special qualifications, staff don’t own office, offices are part of organization, and have written regulations (Weber). However, to Weber, once bureaucracy is constructed and running it is not something you can easily destroy or shut down. This is so because the organization or whatever the bureaucracy may be has been well established and can run based on all the sets of characteristics that Weber came up with and therefore can run on its own. Based on the characteristics of bureaucracy we can see that it is a form of formal rationality because one needs to abide by rules and regulations. Bureaucracy is something that we find everywhere and sometimes one is not aware of it.
Like mentioned above, not everyone is aware that they are facing some kind of bureaucracy. For example, a family structure can falls into bureaucracy. The structure of how a family is form varies depending on of course the culture, religion, and ethnicity. But, let us take the “typical American family”, the American family as we all know is stereotyped as how a perfect family should be or should try to. In the picture above you see the father and by the way he is dress you can also see that he is a business man, hence the provider of the family, then you have the mother that you can also see as the housewife because of her clothing, and finally the children being good children.
Using Weber’s theory of bureaucracy one can come up with ways in which this typical American family fits the characteristics. For the first characteristic; there are rules that the children have to follow in order to be praised or not punished; for example, being polite and obeying the parents when asked to do something. In the picture you see one of the girls pleading the mother for some cake, which shows that she is behaving with good manners. As for Weber’s second characteristic, in order to have a well working family, everyone needs to have special tasks, for example, the father is in charge of working hard (as you can see from his suit) and bring money to the house and the mother is in charge of the cooking, cleaning, and childcare. Everyone in a family have different tasks that they need to be completed in order to function properly. As for characteristic three, you can see that the father is the one who is at the top of the household and you can see that by the way he is standing with his hands on his sides. From this picture you can see that the mother is the housewife, therefore she has the skills it takes to take care of the children, cook, and keeping the household organized rather than the father who probably doesn’t have the skill to cook an egg. In the “typical American family” the mother is the caring mother because she is the “women” therefore she needs to care for everyone. And finally, families have regulations that need to be follow. For example, the children need to follow rules like “don’t come home late” and “no eating in the living room”. Families can be a form of bureaucracy depending on the culture, religion, race, and other factors.
Using Weber’s theory of bureaucracy one can come up with ways in which this typical American family fits the characteristics. For the first characteristic; there are rules that the children have to follow in order to be praised or not punished; for example, being polite and obeying the parents when asked to do something. In the picture you see one of the girls pleading the mother for some cake, which shows that she is behaving with good manners. As for Weber’s second characteristic, in order to have a well working family, everyone needs to have special tasks, for example, the father is in charge of working hard (as you can see from his suit) and bring money to the house and the mother is in charge of the cooking, cleaning, and childcare. Everyone in a family have different tasks that they need to be completed in order to function properly. As for characteristic three, you can see that the father is the one who is at the top of the household and you can see that by the way he is standing with his hands on his sides. From this picture you can see that the mother is the housewife, therefore she has the skills it takes to take care of the children, cook, and keeping the household organized rather than the father who probably doesn’t have the skill to cook an egg. In the “typical American family” the mother is the caring mother because she is the “women” therefore she needs to care for everyone. And finally, families have regulations that need to be follow. For example, the children need to follow rules like “don’t come home late” and “no eating in the living room”. Families can be a form of bureaucracy depending on the culture, religion, race, and other factors.