“Sign, sign, everywhere a sign Blockin’ our the scenery, breakin’ my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?” (5 Man Electrical Band 1971)
In the early 1970’s, during the height of the Vietnam era peace rallies that were sweeping America, “The Five Man Electrical Band” released a song called “Signs” that captured the feelings of many of the time. Young people were sick of being told what they could do, how they could do it, and when they were allowed to do anything. They rallied against the overbearing bureaucracy of government (the Vietnam war and the draft) and they rallied against the bureaucracy of big business (capitalism) and they rallied against the bureaucracy of society’s rules and regulations that encumbered them and the very freedoms that supposedly all people were supposed to have in a modern society. Yet when it came down to it, for all their protestations against all they felt was holding “power” over them, they ended up embracing bureaucracy in the end.
Weber had noted that bureaucracy was an outgrowth of modern society as a mechanism in dealing more effectively with humanity. While not a big proponent of bureaucracy himself, he did see it as a necessary evil in maintaining control and viability in a rapidly expanding urbanized populace. Weber laid out 7 foundational characteristics of bureaucracy that allowed society to work at a greater, albeit less personal level. Much like an assembly line system in a factory, bureaucracy, at least in theory, enabled a much more uniformed and thorough process to develop. This however could also become problematic, as Weber had also envisioned that left unchecked; bureaucracy could also encumber itself with an unthinking and irrational system that in the end caused more problems than it fixed.
I think it’s safe to assume that at some point in life, we’ve all encountered the “red tape” of bureaucracy. It never seems to make sense why something would be so complex and it makes one wonder, “who is the idiot that came up with this process?” So why don’t we fix it?
As a society, we tend to look for order. In the absence of order we endeavor to create it. We seek out leaders to show us the way, even if left to our own devices we often could find it ourselves. We look for rules and then follow them without question. Why? Because human nature continuously searches to create a more efficient pathway governed by things that supposedly make sense, and because it is supposed to make sense, we feel bound by it. For example government is wrought with bureaucratic nightmares. There are offices for every imaginable department that could be conceived of. It is almost impossible to go to one department without being redirected to someone else because what you need isn’t under “their” jurisdiction. While naturally this makes no sense, it probably began as a system that did make sense at one time. Bureaucracy builds on itself. Rather than re-create an entire system as things change, those in power add things (departments/positions) and create a sort of patchwork of process that will ensure they will stay in power and maintain the status quo.
As Weber had envisioned, the bureaucratic process itself could grow so large and so impersonal that it could eventually cave in on itself, and as we have been witnessing in society, it often does. Societies get to a point to where they become so bound by bureaucratic nonsense built up by those in power that revolutions occur. Marx had argued that those that “owned capital” controlled society, while Weber added that those in political power or those at the top of the bureaucratic food chain also controlled society.
Today, we are faced with a failing bureaucratic system that many can’t distinguish between the Marxist “Bourgeoisie” and the Weber’s political elite; to many they are one in the same. Those leaders that we’ve sought out have levied rules that we obediently follow without question. We’ve trusted them to lead us by giving them power, only to find that through an ever-increasing bureaucratic structure they continue to nurture their existence at the expense of society.
It’s ironic that the generation that marched under an “anti-establishment” banner and sought to do away with bureaucracy that was out of control would so readily turn and accept it when they came into power.
Lyrics to “Signs” ( 5 Man Electrical Band 1971)
Signs
The 5 Man Electrical Band
lyrics as recorded by The Five Man Electrical Band in 1971 and included on
the 1990 compilation album "Made In Canada - Volume Three 1965-1974"
(BMG KCD1-7158)
“And the sign said "Long-haired freaky people need not apply"
So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why
He said "You look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you'll do"
So I took off my hat, I said "Imagine that. Huh! Me workin' for you!"
Whoa-oh-oh
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?
And the sign said anybody caught trespassin' would be shot on sight
So I jumped on the fence and-a yelled at the house, "Hey! What gives you
the
right?"
"To put up a fence to keep me out or to keep mother nature in"
"If God was here he'd tell you to your face, Man, you're some kinda sinner"
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?
Now, hey you, mister, can't you read?
You've got to have a shirt and tie to get a seat
You can't even watch, no you can't eat
You ain't supposed to be here
The sign said you got to have a membership card to get inside
Ugh!
------ lead guitar ------
And the sign said, "Everybody welcome. Come in, kneel down and pray"
But when they passed around the plate at the end of it all, I didn't have a
penny to pay
So I got me a pen and a paper and I made up my own little sign
I said, "Thank you, Lord, for thinkin' 'bout me. I'm alive and doin' fine."
Wooo!
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Blockin' out the scenery, breakin' my mind
Do this, don't do that, can't you read the sign?
Sign, sign, everywhere a sign
Sign
Sign, sign”