Capitalism

Hegemony and modern culture (TV documentary script) [Shots of banks, shops, people walking down shopping streets Grafton Street, the Mall in Tralee, Oliver Plunket Street in Cork as voice over speaks] “Not since the time of Antonio Gramsci has the notion of hegemony been so relevant in Ireland today. But what is hegemony? [Image of Gramsci] Hegemony is the phrase adopted by Antonio Gramsci from Marx to explain how social structures evolve. [Scenes of Regina Cali prison] Antonio Gramsci was born in Italy in 1891. After university, in deference to the fascist Mussolini ruling government he became involved in left wing activity.

As a result of this he was arrested in 1928. While in the Regina Cali prison he studied the whole idea of hegemony. He wanted to find out why the weaker forces do not fight back, why do they bow down to their oppressors. He adapted the meaning of hegemony. He realized that it is not just concerned with how the ruling classes operate (as Marx had proposed). Gramsci felt that “what was missing was an understanding of the subtle but pervasive forms of ideological control and manipulation that seemed to perpetrate all repressive structures”1.

He also found that the weaker group had their part in it by accepting the ruling class’s authority. This is the kernel that we are concerned with. This is the theory that we are going to apply to modern culture in Ireland today. Not just why modern culture is imposed but what are the subtle manipulations of this culture and also what is our part in acquiescing to them. [Cut to images of Irish legends Cuchulainn, Fionn mac Cumhaill, Deirdre of the sorrows] We used to have a culture rich in language, dance, storytelling, education, generosity and a love of the simpler things in life.

It had evolved from years of myths and legends passed down from generation to generation. We lived by a code of traditions and values. Later we became colonised by England we were robbed of our language and as a result the stories that made up our culture. Nevertheless we fought back until we gained our independence but already serious changes had occurred in our culture- the culture of money had crept in . Yeats commented on it in September 1913 What need you, being come to sense, But fumble in a greasy till And add the halfpence to the pence And prayer to shivering prayer, until

You have dried the marrow from the bone; For men were born to pray and save; Romantic Ireland’s dead and gone, It’s with O’Leary in the grave. 3 [Images of cash tills and money] Consumerism has been growing steadily ever since, but its more than consumerism it’s a greed, an insatiable desire, an endless hunger for the next shiny object. The care for our fellow human beings has been replaced by this self propulsion . Recently we have been woken from a glut of consumerism, obsessed by the price of property and handbags and plunged into an abyss of recession. Now is the time to question what happened?

What is our culture? Who are the forces that change it and what is our part in adopting this culture as our own? Firstly what is our culture? Culture is anything that engages us socially. It is the media, television, newspapers, magazines, books, internet, art, music and dance. It is all of these and it is more. It is the way we think, the way we live and the things we believe in. Today in Ireland what is most prevalent is the culture of consumerism. Buoyed by the economic boom that was known as the Celtic tiger consumerism grew and grew. Borrowing increased as sales increased on luxury cars.

Items such as handbags became known as must haves, the prices of houses escalated at an astonishing rate. Consumer spending increased by 36% in the period 1999 to 20042. As a nation we became gripped with a greed for goods. Where did this come from? Everyday we are bombarded with images of products and goods. The average person sees over a hundred ads a day. The media is littered with advertising. Most fashion magazines and television stations are run by the revenue generated by advertising. So we can observe how Gramsci’s theory is working, we are being governed by the media to buy these products.

But what about the other side, why do we comply so easily. Is it because as a colonised state we are easily duped and behave like sheep. There is clearly proof for this . Because consumerism is our new God, we work all hours to acquire more money. Modern life is riddled with apathy. People don’t revolt any more and this is an essential part of Gramsci’s model. In order for a social structure to grow it needs to revolt. We did in the 1920’s when we gained our political freedom so why not again? Because people today are too busy being distracted by the media.

Throughout the media we are shown the perfect way to live, what we need to purchase it, to attain that lifestyle and most importantly what we should be thinking. Open the supplement to The Sunday Times newspaper, not only will it tell you what artists are cool and current it will also give you a meter to what’s hot and not. There is usually a spread on a designer or artist with a photo shoot of their house. The following page has a guide as to where you can purchase items that are similar. We are filling our lives and our homes with products in the hope that they will give us an identity, a look a brand.

But it goes further than this. Behind this cult of consumerism is a need for something stronger, the constant seeking that can never be found. In order for it to fill us it would have to be spiritual. We have made a false God of the media. Looking to it to sustain us, to give us direction and it can’t because it’s not based on spiritual principals. Our increasing lack of faith in Catholism had edged us more towards our readiness to believe in something else, something that makes us feel good, safe, and important. All the things the media claims to do.

Social networking sites convince us we are important, that people are interested in what we say and want to see photos of us. The whole thing is ego based revolving around the church of me. As individuals become more obsessed with themselves, encouraged by the media (‘because we’re worth it’) to buy more products, watch more programmes that reiterate the ideology of Me and read more papers that tell you what to buy, community spirit is wasting away to nothing. In order for us to get any way out of this mess we need to look to Gramsci once again. We need to revolt.

We need to stop consuming for the wrong reasons. We need to think about our purchasing. We need to become consciously aware of what we are doing. We need to start asking questions? Where is my money going? Is it helping communities or causing farmers to lose their farms? Why do they sell Riverock a Coca-cola product instead of Kerry Spring in the college canteen? Because that’s the reality; every time you purchase something you set a chain of events into motion . Now we’re aware of our power there is no going back. We need to start a revolution.

Some trailblazers have already started with Fair-Trade leading the way with putting a conscience into consumerism. In the field of fashion people like Kellie Dalton are paving the way forward for fashion with a conscience. Her work and the work of others at Redress. ie are helping make fashion more ethical. Hopefully with this growth in conscience a sense of community can once return to our shores and this will replace the endless seeking of self in the wrong places. [cue Titles Accompanied with Rage against the Machine “Take the Power Back”]

Sources 1 http://www. nternationalgramscisociety. org 2 HYPERLINK “http://www. davy. ie/content/pubarticles/wmc20070730. pdf” http://www. davy. ie/content/pubarticles/wmc20070730. pdf 3 “September 1913” WB Yeats HYPERLINK “http://www. re-dress. ie/” http://www. re-dress. ie/ Irish Times Magazine, (Saturday Oct 31, 2009) The Sunday Times Style Supplement (Sunday Oct 25th, 2009) Cultural Theory, An Introduction, Philip Smith and Alexander Riley (Blackwell Publishing) pgs 35 – 37 HYPERLINK “http://www. victoryiscertain. com/gramsci” http://www. victoryiscertain. com/gramsci http://links. org. au/node/1260

Although the local government has been actively promoting, in the 1980’s China’s automobile industry is not an attractive, nor a powerful market. It was relatively small in size. There is a lack of domestic demand, cars are not the major transportation used by the locals, rather it was a privilege for a small number of high-ranking officials. Most vehicles are trucks, and China was only beginning to allow taxi services. Also, there are only a limited number of worthy local firms that can be taken as partners. However, as the economy of China rises, the local’s income and living standard upgrades.

Creating a vast number of demands for private cars. Furthermore, the Chinese government has shaped their policy to improve their economy through growth of automobile and infrastructure industry. The rapid growth of the automobile market in China has attracted more multinational firms to enter. The Chinese government realized the lack of their vehicles and their need to modernize the industry, however they should also protect the local firms. As a result, multinational automakers must set up joint ventures or licensing deals with local firm in order to build their final assembly operations in China.

It is a large project with high commitment, level of control, and need a lot of resources, and potentially create high benefits, licensing seemed to not fit the picture but rather joint venture. In addition, exporting to China is not favorable because the Chinese government realizes that it high amount of imported vehicles would be a major exhaust on their limited hard currency reserves. Car’s import duties in 1980s was 260% until 2006 where it was reduced to 25% Being an early entrant has definitely benefited Volkswagen (VW) in China.

They are able to take advantage of the scarcity of high-quality vehicles, the persistence of a seller’s market and lack of competition in choosing local partners, which leads to a solid market position. However, their success is mostly because of their hard effort. They were proactive and were willing to share a big amount of resources (both financial and technical). Their interaction with the local government, providing help to some extent, plays a role in their success. VW is not afraid to go ‘all out’, as they even reinvest their profit to develop their production.

However, another early entrant, Peugeot faced the opposite. Their failure is not due to lack of early entrant advantage, but rather to the lack of improvements. Their product was outdated, and even though they have generated high profits from selling CKD kits and parts, they did not try to develop their production (that has generated a lot of complaints). The timing on when a firm enters the market does not necessarily determine the performance of the firm but more to the effort and commitment they put in, and luck.

For example, even though Honda had fewer options of partners and market positioning, it is a successful late entrant as they invested an enormous amount of both financial and technological investments. Their excellent reputation and brand recognition that they have gained before the takeover, also contributes to their success. On the other hand, the failure of Ford (late entrant) is claimed to be mainly because of the wrong partners and improper initial strategies (article 1). I would vote yes to the proposal.

Even though China is facing potential overcapacity, their future growth is not something that can be ignored. China has been successful in many other industries, and it has certainly promoted economic growth that leads to higher local living standards. Local demand for automobile will certainly keep on increasing, as the Chinese government keeps on developing the infrastructure to promote the use of cars (article 2). Not only that, they are making bullet trains inter-countries (China-Singapore) that will push further their economic growth (article 3).

Tourism to China will increase, so will the locals income and the demand for transportations (including trains and boats). By being able to capture those potential demands, the benefits of this project will certainly outweigh the risks.

Sources

Article 1 – Ford’s failure: http://www. chinadaily. com. cn/english/doc/2004-10/22/content_384782. htm Article 2 – Highway improvements: http://www. usatoday. com/news/world/2006-01-29-china-roads_x. htm Article 3 – Bullet Train: http://www. npr. org/2011/06/14/137111321/full-steam-ahead-for-chinas-rail-links-abroad

Growth Through Going Global The traditional theory of the firm is based on the short-run profit maximization. Many actions of firms may be seen to conflict with this aim and yet could be consistent with the aim of long-run profit maximization. For example, policies to increase the size of the firm or the firm’s share of the market may involve heavy advertising or low prices to the detriment of short-run profits. But if this results in the firm becoming larger, with a bigger share of the market, the resulting economic power may enable the firm to make larger profits in the long run.

In many respects, a firm’s global strategy is simply an extension of its strategy within its own domestic market. However, opening up to global markets can provide an obvious means for a business to expand its markets and spread its risks. It is also a means of reducing costs, whether through economies of scale or from accessing cheap sources of supply or low-wage production facilities. A firm’s global growth strategy may involve simply exporting or opening up factories abroad, or it may involve merging with businesses abroad or forming strategic alliances.

The result is that the global business environment has tended to become more and more ompetitive. What will a growth-maximizing firm’s price and output be? Unfortunately there is no simple formula for predicting this. In the short run, the firm may choose the profit maximizing price and output – so as to provide the greatest funds for investment. On the other hand, it may be prepared to sacrifice some short-term profits in order to mount an advertising campaign.

It all depends on the strategy it considers most suitable to achieve growth. In the long run, prediction is more difficult still. The policies that a firm adopts will depend crucially on the assessments of market opportunities made by managers. But this involves Judgment, not fine calculation. Different managers will Judge a situation differently. One prediction can be made. Growth-maximizing firms are likely to diversify into different products, especially as they approach the limits to expansion in existing markets.

It is difficult to draw firm conclusions about the public interest. In the case of sales revenue maximization, a higher output will be produced than under profit maximization, but the consumers will not necessarily benefit from lower prices, since more will be spent on advertising – costs that will be passed on to the consumer. In the case of growth and long-run profit maximization, there are many possible policies that a firm could pursue.

To the extent that a concern for the long run encourages firms to look to improved products, new products and new techniques, the consumer may benefit from such a concern. To the extent, however, that growth encourages a greater level of industrial concentration through merger; the consumer theory of the firm, the degree of competition a firm faces is a crucial factor in determining Just how responsive it will be to the wishes of the consumer. References: http://classofl . com/homework-help/economics-homework-help/

A. Plan of Investigation This investigation will answer the question: what were the sources of post- independence economic instability in Venezuela from 1830 to 1890? The most significant sources of instability impacting the economy in Venezuelan early national period were the fluctuating coffee prices, the credit crisis, and the ineffectual government. The scope of the research was the economy in Venezuela from approximately 1830 to 1890. This does not include political or social impacts on the country’s instability as a whole.

The research followed the process of reading books ND textbooks for tertiary and secondary source information on Venezuela, and primary sources such as laws which were relevant in the scope of the investigation. This topic is important for understanding how the history of Venezuela as a Spanish colony affected its economy for decades after independence. B. Summary of Evidence By the asses, although Venezuela had gained independence from Spain, the country faced more problems than had been solved. Venezuelan economy was mostly agriculturally based, and a lot of the economy rested on raw material export, similar to the colonial period economy.

According to Bonham and Holey, “Venezuelan agriculture [was] in general handicapped by adverse natural conditions, backward techniques, and low productivity’ (144). For example, there were agricultural advancements made in farming techniques that the farmers did not utilize, which made their production comparatively inefficient: “Venezuelan planters were very slow to adopt new methods or employ new tools. Indicative of this are the series of articles published in newspapers advocating improvements in pruning, fertilizers, planting, and harvesting.

The same ideas were being pushed in 1842 as had been advocated n the twenties” (Lombardi 102). In the late asses through the asses, Venezuela experienced a boom in the coffee industry, increasing production from approximately 12,000 pounds in the 1831-32 fiscal year to almost 40,000 pounds in the 1845-46 fiscal year (Lombardi 164-165). Although the price of coffee fluctuated anywhere from . 065 pesos per pound to . 125 pesos per pound, it was relatively profitable, so many planters invested increasing amounts of money in land, trees, and labor.

The “coffee barons” had to borrow money to buy capital, and usually ended up deeply in debt due to the unreliability of coffee- eased profit. In order to make a larger profit, coffee barons cultivated more coffee, only to face the issue of labor shortages (Lombardi). In addition, the law in Venezuela had been changed so there was no limit on interest rates on loans. “The prior law had limited the interest rate to a maximum of 6% per year, and required that” debtors’ goods be sold for no less than two-thirds of their value when repossessed to be sold at auction as repayment for the money they owed (Berglund 374).

On April 10, 1834, La Lye De Liberate De Contracts, or the Freedom of Contract law, was passed with the aim of stimulating the economy. This new law allowed creditors to lend money at interest rates they “deemed appropriate, and with the Judicial support of Sources of Post-Independence Economic Instability in Venezuela, 1830-1890 By rightward Under the 1834 law, interest rates soared, “ranging from a rare 9% to a customary 12%, and emergency rates of 18 to 24%” (Berglund 375-376).

The law also placed no limit on the amount of property that could be seized in order to pay for outstanding debts, and there was no regulation of acceptable pricing for auctioned goods (Ditz). This system eventually became an extreme hardship on the landowners, who had no means of paying back their debt with the excessive interest they owed. Another related issue was that of infrastructure. There were virtually no usable roads, which hindered the transportation of coffee and other goods for trade.

There was no effort to correct this issue until the presidencies of Antonio Gunman Blanch (from 1870-1877, from 1879-1884, and from 1886-1887). Gunman implemented the first national project of modernization, including building infrastructure such as roads, ports and railways (De Pulled and Ramirez). C. Evaluation of Sources “An Analysis of Values throughout the History of Venezuela” was an article written by Roseland Greaves De Pulled and Holyoke Ramirez, and appeared as a part of the compilation Cross-cultural Analysis of Values and Political Economy Issues, edited by Dan Voice, Jar. ND Lee P. Stepping. This secondary source was originally published in 1994 by Peerage Publishers in Westport, Connecticut. The purpose of the compilation was to analyze the effects of culture and values on business management (Voice and Stepping x’). De Pulled, a sociologist from the Universal Catholic Andrea Belle, in Caracas, Venezuela, and Ramirez, also a professor at the same university, wrote their Analysis” from a historical perspective for the purpose of understanding the Venezuelan interpretation of events and mindset toward economic success.

The value lies in its understandable explanation of historically important events and people, on which De Pulled is able to authoritatively give a native opinion. The focus on physical events, conditions, and effects rather than minutiae of economic growth and decay contributes to the comprehensibility. This is also a limitation, however, because there are no charts, tables, graphs, or corresponding numerical or mathematical evidence in support of the claims being made. The book The Decline and Abolition of Negro Slavery in Venezuela, 1820-1854 by John V.

Lombardi, a Ph. D. And specialist in Latin American history, fills in some of these evidential gaps. It was originally published in 1971 by Greenwood Press in Westport, Connecticut. The purpose of this secondary source is to “provide a case study of the operation and demise of slavery in a country not dominated by the institution” (Lombardi ‘x). The value of the work is that in explaining the decline and abolition of slavery, the effect of slavery on the economy and the economic conditions f the time are also explained.

There are export tables in the appendix to supplement the economic information discussed, which includes the Venezuelan coffee boom, the subsequent crisis, and the main reasons for the crisis. Lombardi was very careful to explain certain limitations of his data tables, including inaccessibility of certain data due to revolutionary activity (Banger 274). The limitations of the book are that it considers the economy in the context of slavery, and considers slavery in Venezuela in the context of nations that were dependent on slavery, which Venezuela was not.

D. Analysis The economic instability in Venezuela from the asses onward mainly stemmed during the initial coffee boom, and a huge fallout when the price of coffee fell from an average of about 0. 1 pesos per pound to about 0. 075 pesos per pound, eventually causing the credit crisis in conjunction with other factors. One problem with Venezuelan economic system was that it was still based on colonial ideas. Venezuelan landowners traditionally “relied on three major sources of investment capital: the Church, Spanish capitalists, and the Venezuelan rich.

But the wars for independence ended these relationships” (Lombardi 98). As such, the farmers had to obtain funding elsewhere. They began to borrow money at the newly high interest rates of at least 12% to buy enough capital to plant coffee, which was relatively profitable. However, there were crippling problems on every level of the coffee industry. Landowners didn’t implement innovations in fertilizers, planting, and harvesting, which contributed to inefficient processes. Venezuelan coffee was not very competitive due to its high prices (Diploid and Ramirez 207).

The prices were comparatively higher for a number of reasons. In addition to the inefficient farming ethos, once the coffee crop was ready to be sold, there was the problem of transportation. Venezuela had few usable roads and ports, and no feasible plan was ever put in place to overcome these issues. The cost of transporting the coffee crop absorbed much of the small profit the farmers made (Lombardi 103). After exporting the coffee, planters still didn’t fare very well in the international market because raw material exports were not very profitable (Diploid and Ramirez 208).

They made a very small profit margin, and the only way to make back the money they owed to creditors was to grow more and more coffee, which only contributed to he gradually declining prices throughout the initial boom (Lombardi 102). However, it was not practicable to expand their plantations because they couldn’t find willing laborers. Slavery was abolished in 1854 by President Jose Gregory Manages, eliminating one source of labor, although historians debate whether the impact of abolition was significant (Diploid and Ramirez 208).

The main problem lay with the peons normally hired to work the plantations. The peons would work on the coffee plantations during harvest season because it paid more than could be earned subsistence farming. In the growing season, planters only needed a small crew, but during the harvest season never had trouble hiring because they could always offer relatively high pay. However, as coffee prices fell, laborers could no longer be paid more than what could be made subsistence farming so laborers became harder to find (Lombardi 103).

As the creditors demanded repayment, landowning debtors became unable to pay back their loans. The planters could not escape their dilemma. They took out huge loans at high interest rates to start plantations, which didn’t turn a high profit, so they expanded their plantations, trying to repay the loans. In doing so, they only contributed to the falling price of coffee, which lowered their ability to attract workers. The amount of coffee being produced nearly quadrupled, but its value per pound was cut by one quarter. When the system collapsed the government did not have the wherewithal to deal with it.

In fact, the Congress had added to the issue by lifting restrictions on interest rates with the 1834 freedom of contract law. Normal interest restrictions would have slightly alleviated the debt crisis by regulating the repayment of loans, stimulate the economy by allowing liberty in deciding interest rates in loan contracts Ditz). E. Conclusion During the early national period of Venezuela from 1830 to the asses, the sources of economic instability were the fluctuating coffee prices, the subsequent credit crisis, and the ineffectual government.

The agrarian export economy still bore the mark of the colonial period, and the traditionally agricultural economy did not adapt to the times. Problems with farming techniques, lack of infrastructure, and declining available labor all contributed to the eventual failure of coffee exports. The fledgling government was not qualified to handle economic crises, and the situation was not addressed in time to prevent economic and political unrest. Venezuela had no experience with self-governance during the colonial period, and this affected the structure and actions of the government post-independence.

Chapter Summary Society is organized “to get its job done”. It does so through formal organizations and bureaucracies. The same system that can be frustrating and impersonal is also the one on which we rely for our personal welfare and to fulfill our daily needs. The society of today, however is not the society of yesterday, nor will it be the society of tomorrow. The rationalization of society refers to a transformation in people’s thinking and behavior over the past 150 years, shifting the focus from personal relationships to efficiency and results.

Karl Marx attributed this transformation to capitalism, while Max Weber, who disagreed with Marx, related it to Protestant theology. As a result of rationality, formal organizations, secondary groups designed to achieve specific objectives, have become a central feature of contemporary society. With industrialization, secondary groups have become common. Today, their existence is taken for granted. They become a part of our lives at birth and seem to get more and more complex as we move through the life course.

The larger the formal organization, the more likely it will turn into a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies are defined as formal organizations characterized by five features that help them reach their goals, to grow, and endure. These five features are (1) clear levels, with assignments flowing downward and accountability flowing upward, (2) a division of labor, (3) written rules, (4) written communications with records, and (5) impartiality. Although bureaucracies are the most efficient forms of social organization, they can also be dysfunctional.

Dysfunctions of bureaucracies can include red tape, lack of communication between units, and alienation. Examples of these dysfunctions include an overly rigid interpretation of rules and the failure of members of the same organization to communicate among one another. According to Max Weber, the impersonality of bureaucracies tends to produce workers who feel detached from the organization and each other. According to Karl Marx, workers experience alienation when they lose control over their work and are cut off from the finished product of their labor.

To resist alienation, workers form primary groups, banding together in informal settings during the workday to offer each other support and validation. They also personalize their work space with family photographs and personal decorations. Not all workers, however, succeed in resisting alienation. One reason bureaucracies endure and are so resilient is because they tend to take on a life of their own through a process called goal displacement. Once a bureaucracy has achieved its original goals, it adopts new goals in order to perpetuate its existence.

A classic example of goal displacement involves the March of Dimes. Originally founded to fight polio, the organization was faced with being phased out after Jonas Salk discovered the polio vaccine. Rather than disband, it adopted a new mission, “fighting birth defects”, which was recently changed to a vaguer goal of “breakthrough for babies”. In addition to bureaucracies, many people in the United States become involved with voluntary organizations, groups made up of volunteers who organize on the basis of some mutual interest.

But even voluntary organizations are not immune from the affect of bureaucratization. Although formal organizations provide numerous beneficial functions, they also tend to be dominated by a small, self-perpetuating elite, a phenomenon Robert Michel referred to as the iron law of oligarchy. Even volunteer and non-profit organizations are affected by the iron law of oligarchy. Sociologists use the term, “corporate culture” to refer to an organization’s traditions, values, and unwritten norms. Much of what goes on in corporate culture, however, is hidden.

To ensure that the corporate culture reproduces itself at the top levels, people in positions of power groom other people they perceive to be “just like them” for similar positions of power. In the United States, personal achievement is central; workers are hired on the basis of what they can contribute to the organization that hires them. To counter the negative side of bureaucracies, many corporations have begun taking steps to better humanize work settings. This includes the establishment of work teams, corporate day care, employee stock ownership plans, and the quality circles.

There has been a great deal of research directed at comparing the Japanese corporate culture to the American corporate culture. The Japanese corporate model differs significantly from the American corporate model in the way it views work, workers, and work organizations. Although considered as superior to the American corporate culture, more recent inspection shows this to be more of a myth than a reality. Successful Japanese businesses have adopted many of the American methods. The real bottom line is that we live in a global marketplace of ideas as well as products, with no single set of cultural values being universally superior.

Key Terms in Chapter Seven alienation: Marx’s term for the experience of being cut off from the product of one’s labor that results in a sense of powerlessness and normlessness. (p. 181) bureaucracy: A formal organization with a hierarchy of authority; a clear division of labor; emphasis on written rules, communications, and records; and impersonality of positions. (p. 176) capitalism: An economic system characterized by private ownership of the means of producing goods and services, the pursuit of profit, and market competition. (p. 176) corporate culture: The orientations that characterize corporate work settings. p. 186) formal organization: A secondary group designed to achieve explicit objectives. (p. 176) goal displacement: A goal displaced by another; in this context, the adoption of new goals by an organization; also known as goal replacement. (p. 182) humanizing a work setting: Organizing a workplace in such a way that it develops, rather than impedes, human potential. (p. 188) Peter principle: A bureaucratic “law” according to which the members of an organization are promoted for good work until they reach their level of incompetence, the level at which they can no longer do good work. p. 182) rationality: The acceptance of rules, efficiency, and practical results as the right way to approach human affairs. (p. 174) rationalization of society: A widespread acceptance of rationality and a social organization largely built around this idea. (p. 174) self-fulfilling prophecy: As applied to corporate culture, predictions that later come true based upon values and stereotypes. (p. 186) the iron law of oligarchy: Robert Michels’ phrase for the tendency of formal organizations to be dominated by a small, self-perpetuating elite. (p. 185) he McDonaldization of society: The process by which ordinary aspects of life are rationalized and efficiency comes to rule such things as food preparation. (p. 179) traditional orientation: The idea, characteristic of tribal, peasant, and feudal societies, that the past is the best guide for the present. (p. 174) voluntary association: A group made up of volunteers who have organized on the basis of some mutual interest. (p. 183) Key People in Chapter Seven Alexis de Tocqueville: In his report of his travels across the United States, Democracy in America, Tocqueville observed the tendency of Americans to join voluntary associations. p. 183) Peter Evans and James Rauch: Evans and Rauch found that the most prosperous countries are those with central bureaucracies that hire workers on the basis of merit and offer them rewarding careers. (p. 182) Elaine Fox and George Arquitt: Studying local posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Fox and Arquitt found that leadership positions in organizations are typically decided behind the scenes with current leaders choosing their favorite candidates for other leadership roles. (p. 185)

Rosabeth Moss Kanter: In her organizational studies of corporations, Kanter discovered that corporate cultures reproduce themselves at the top levels by selecting workers that they think best match the corporate model; providing those workers with the opportunities and resources to do well; and after they succeed, promoting them to high-level positions. (p. 186). Gary Marx: Noting technology’s role in the control of workers, Gary Marx warned of a maximum-security workplace where computers keep track of every movement workers make on the job. (p. 190)

Karl Marx: According to Karl Marx, the rationalization of society was due to the transformation to capitalism, which, in turn, created alienation—workers who lost control of their work and were cut off from the finished product of their labor. (p. 174) Robert Michels: Michels coined the phrase “the iron law of oligarchy” to describe the tendency of formal organizations to be dominated by a small, self-perpetuating elite. (p. 185) William Ouchi: Ouchi identified five ways that the Japanese corporate model differed from the American corporate model. p. 191) George Ritzer: Ritzer coined the term “the McDonaldization of society” to describe the process by which ordinary aspects of life are becoming more and more rationalized. (p. 179) David Sills: Sills identified four of the seven functions of voluntary associations. (p. 184) Max Weber: According to Weber, a change in people’s religious orientation and their way of thinking produced capitalism. Weber also argued that the impersonality of bureaucracies tends to produce workers who feel detached from their organizations and each other. (p. 175)

THE TENETS OF BEURAUCRATIC APPROACH IN THE STUDY OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION INTRODUCTION A bureaucracy is a way of administratively organizing large numbers of people who need to work together. Organizations in the public and private sector, including universities and governments, rely on bureaucracies to function. The term bureaucracy literally means “rule by desks or offices,” a definition that highlights the often impersonal character of bureaucracies.

Even though bureaucracies sometimes seem inefficient or wasteful, setting up a bureaucracy helps ensure that thousands of people work together in compatible ways by defining everyone’s roles within a hierarchy. Bureaucracy is an organization that is structured with regulations set in place to control activity. The bureaucratic stricture is usually implemented in large organizations and governments. It is represented by an assembly of knowledge, power, and Hierarchy.

The Knowledge of the organization consists of the technical expertise and the understandings necessary to carry out specialized tasks, along with the capacity to gain more information as needed. The power is the central political resource, enables the organization to change in spite of what others may think. Hierarchy is the arrangement of people holding authority over others with the ability to command behavior and punish lack of compliance. Bureaucracies are meant to be orderly, fair, and highly efficient. Which means having a clear-cut division of labor is necessary.

The principles of Bureaucracy hierarchy and of levels of authority mean a firmly ordered system of super and subordination, in which a super supervises their subordination. Such a system offers those governed the possibility of appealing the decision of super to higher authority, in a regulated manner. Within any bureaucratic authority there are principals of organization orthodox. According to the Weberian model, created by German sociologist Max Weber, a bureaucracy always displays the following characteristics:- Hierarchy: A bureaucracy is set up with clear chains of command so that veryone has a boss. At the top of the organization is a chief who oversees the entire bureaucracy. Power flows downward. Specialization: Bureaucrats specialize in one area of the issue their agency covers. This allows efficiency because the specialist does what he or she knows best, and then passes the matter along to another specialist. Division of labor: Each task is broken down into smaller tasks, and different people work on different parts of the task. Standard operating procedure (SOP): Also called formalized rules, SOP informs workers about how to handle tasks and situations.

Everybody always follows the same procedures to increase efficiency and predictability so that the organization will produce similar results in similar circumstances. SOP can sometimes make bureaucracy move slowly because new procedures must be developed as circumstances change. In the past, organizations were commonly structured as bureaucracies. A bureaucracy is a form of organization based on logic, order, and the legitimate use of formal authority. Bureaucracies are meant to be orderly, fair, and highly efficient.

Their features include a clear-cut division of labor, strict hierarchy of authority, formal rules and procedures, and promotion based on competency. marked by hierarchical authority among numerous offices and by fixed procedures, the Administration of a government chiefly through bureaus or departments staffed with nonelected officials. Public administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work.

As a “field of inquiry with a diverse scope” its “fundamental goal… is to advance management and policies so that government can function. ” Some of the various definitions which have been offered for the term are: “the management of public programs”; the “translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day” and “the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies themselves, the various inputs that have produced them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies. Public administration is “centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programmes as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally responsible for their conduct” Many unelected public servants can be considered to be public administrators, including heads of city, county, regional, state and federal departments such as municipal budget directors, human resources (H. R. ) administrators, city managers, census managers, state [mental health] directors, and cabinet secretaries.

Public administrators are public servants working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of government. In contrast to private enterprises, government-owned corporation or municipality owned enterprises are not always or even usually managed on the basis of the profit motive. A deficit in this latter case does not spell the end of the enterprise or even the beginning of reforms, because it is generally assumed that the reason the enterprise exists is to ‘render useful services to the public’ (i. e. mploy a large part of the local population as its workforce or charge an artificially low price for its products or services), not become a slave of the profit motive. What is notable about the very idea of bureaucracy is its severe rational modernism. Political modernity and bureaucracy are largely symbiotic; the rise of the state paralleled the rise of the bureaucracy. One of the philosophers of the modern economizing state and the modern bureaucratic idea is Adam Smith (1723–1790), whose defense of the division of labor promoted the bureaucratization of the early Westphalia state.

Indeed, Smith’s ideas are elemental to Weber’s core tenets of bureaucracy: the rigid division of responsibilities and tasks and the economization of organizational forms. Whereas Smith advocated the division of labor in order to promote efficient economic growth, Weber suggests the division of labor for the efficient production of goods or services. Inevitably, bureaucracy was conceived as, and has become, an economizing tool for the rationalization of complex and ambiguous environments. The rationality of bureaucracy is a central idea within Weber’s ideal type.

In fact, Weber himself suggests that bureaucracy be a rational-legal form designed to promote the rationalization of organizational tasks and goals. The rationalizing tendency of bureaucracy, while being one of the elements most open to contemporary criticism, was also its most attractive quality for the architects of Enlightenment-guided governance, who sought alternatives to earlier forms of despotic and aristocratic dominance. The adoption of the bureaucratic form by theorists of liberal government has its roots in the legal protection of natural (rational) rights for all.

In fact, embedded in the rationalization structure of bureaucracy is the elimination of particularism the diminishment of universal individual rights for the sake of traditional forms of class or ethnic domination. Those responsible for the French Revolution pined, within their writings, for the rational nonexceptionalism of the bureaucratic form. Indeed, as Maxim lien de Robespierre (1758–1794) and later Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) identified, the ancient regime was epitomized by the irrational occupation of power by a centralized bureaucracy of the ruling class.

The bureaucratic organization of rational-legal authority involves the following necessary criteria: the specification of jurisdictional areas, the hierarchical organization of roles, a clear and intentionally established system of decision-making rules, the restriction of bureau property to use by the bureau, the compensation by salary (not spoils) of appointed officials, and the professionalization of the bureaucratic role into a tenured lifelong career.

The idea of bureaucracy suggests that rules, norms, merit, regulations, and stability are paramount to the operation of government. The rule-bound nature of bureaucracy has been widely critiqued in modern political and sociological analyses; however, the number of alternative forms of organization that have received as much consideration is limited.

ive, rich people use the poor as commodities. He also explained that the profit that owners earn is not justly distributed to the nation as a whole. Marx’s Estranged Labor and Private Property and Communism explain the alienation of the laborer caused by private property and how it will bring the downfall of capitalism. Marx believed in communism which is a perfect life for all the individuals.

In ancient times, people would live in caves and depended on nature to survive and fulfill their everyday needs. However, with time world modernized, people moved on and money became the main aspect of everyone’s life. In order to stay in power, money is very important. People give more value to money than themselves because money is what makes a person’s value. Money can buy happiness even though people spend most of their lives working for others.

People’s need changed overtime, they found happiness in new things as the world modernized, unlike before their needs were satisfied by nature. In Marx’s work he briefly pointed out what a man should really be by differentiating between animals and human beings. What makes human beings different from animals is that animals can’t think like humans as Marx said, for it “produces only what it immediately needs for itself and its young” (Estranged Labor, pg. 275).

Unlike animals, humans have conscious and ability to produce many things by themselves as Marx explained, “he makes his life activity itself the object of his will and of his consciousness” (Estranged Labor, pg. 276). Humans are creative. Therefore, human life has a purpose for man and in this intellect he is free and universal. Marx argued that human nature is nor good nor evil but dialectical because humans external objects which were plant, animal and air became into food, clothes and heating.

Marx illustrated that alienated man is the opposite of the productive man because a man’s soul is to produce and create. Therefore, an alienated man is the man whose soul and existence are split, which describes that he works not for producing but for money and others. Money is a very important aspect in both the worker and the capitalist’s life. According to Marx, the real foundation of alienation is private property. The affiliation between the worker and the capitalist is defined in the capitalist society. A worker has not