The document discusses how traditional societies shifted to more rational and bureaucratic structures. It provides Marx and Weber's explanations for this shift. Marx argued that capitalism broke from tradition by prioritizing efficiency and profits. Weber believed Protestant theology influenced the development of the capitalist spirit. The document also examines characteristics of bureaucracies, such as hierarchy, rules, impersonality and goal displacement over time. It explores functions of voluntary associations and reasons for joining them, as well as the concept of an "iron law of oligarchy" where elite groups dominate leadership. Finally, it considers issues around technology enabling increased surveillance capabilities by governments.

1. The Rationalization of Society
7.1 Compare the explanations of Marx and Weber for why traditional societies
shifted to rationality.
• Why Did Society Make a Deep Shift in Human
Relationships?
• Marx: Capitalism Broke Tradition
• Weber: Religion Broke Tradition

2. Why Did Society Make a Deep Shift in Human
Relationships? (1 of 5)
• Life in traditional societies
• The shift to rationality in industrialized societies

3. Why Did Society Make a Deep Shift in Human
Relationships? (2 of 5)
To understand the
sociological significance of
this photo of women in
Ecuador digging a trench
that will connect the home
of a member of their
community to fresh water,
compare what you see here
with the list of
characteristics of traditional
societies in Table 7.1.

4. Why Did Society Make a Deep Shift in Human
Relationships? (3 of 5)
Table 7.1 Production in Traditional and Nontraditional Societies
Producing Goods
Traditional Societies (Horticultural, Agricultural) Nontraditional Societies (Industrial, Postindustrial)
1. Production is done by family members and same-
sex groups (men’s and women’s groups).
1. Production is done by workers hired for the job.
2. Production takes place in the home or in fields
and other areas adjacent to the home.
2. Production takes place in a centralized location.
(Some decentralization is occurring in the
information society.)
3. Tasks are assigned according to personal
relationships; men, women, and children do
specific tasks based on custom.
3. Tasks are assigned according to agreements and
training.
4. The “how” of production is not evaluated; the
attitude is “We want to keep doing it the way
we’ve always done it.”
4. The “how” of production is evaluated; the attitude
is “How can we make this more efficient?”
Source: By the author.

5. Why Did Society Make a Deep Shift in Human
Relationships? (4 of 5)
Table 7.1 [continued]
Relationships in Production
Traditional Societies (Horticultural, Agricultural) Nontraditional Societies (Industrial, Postindustrial)
5. Relationships are based on history (“the way it’s
always been”).
5. Relationships are based on contracts, which
change as the situation changes.
6. Relationships are diffuse (vague, covering many
areas of life).
6. Relationships are specific; contracts (even if not
written) specify conditions.
7. Relationships are long-term, often lifelong. 7. Relationships are short-term, for the length of the
contract.

6. Why Did Society Make a Deep Shift in Human
Relationships? (5 of 5)
Table 7.1 [continued]
Evaluating Workers
Traditional Societies (Horticultural,
Agricultural)
Nontraditional Societies (Industrial,
Postindustrial)
8. It is assumed that arrangements
will continue indefinitely.
8. Arrangements are evaluated
periodically, to decide whether
to continue or to change them.
9. People are evaluated informally
according to how they fulfill
their traditional roles, much as
friends “evaluate” one another
today.
9. People are evaluated formally
according to how they perform
the tasks they are assigned in
the organization.
Note: This model is an ideal type. Rationality is never totally absent from any society, and no society (or
organization) is based entirely on rationality. Even the most rational organizations (those that most carefully and
even ruthlessly compute the “bottom line”) have traditional components. To properly understand this table,
consider these nine characteristics as being “more” or “less” present.
Source: By the author.

7. Marx: Capitalism Broke Tradition
• Capitalism
• Efficiency
• Profits
• Rationalization

8. Weber: Religion Broke Tradition
• Protestant theology
• Capitalism

9. Formal Organizations and Bureaucracies
7.2 Summarize the characteristics of bureaucracies, their dysfunctions, and goal
displacement; also contrast ideal and real bureaucracy.
• Formal Organizations
• The Characteristics of Bureaucracies
• “Ideal” Versus “Real” Bureaucracy
• Goal Displacement and the Perpetuation of
Bureaucracies
• Dysfunctions of Bureaucracies

10. Formal Organizations (1 of 2)
• Formal organization
• Central feature of today’s societies
• Development into bureaucracy

11. Formal Organizations (2 of 2)
Today’s armies, no matter what
country they are from, are
bureaucracies. They have a
strict hierarchy of rank,
division of labor, impersonality
and replaceability (an emphasis
on the office, not the person
holding it), and they stress
written records, rules, and
communications—essential
characteristics identified by
Max Weber. This photo was
taken in Pyongyang, North
Korea.

12. The Characteristics of Bureaucracies
• Separate levels
• Assignments flowing downward
• Accountability flowing upward
• Division of labor
• Written rules
• Written communications and records
• Impersonality and replaceability

13. The McDonaldization of Society
The process by which
ordinary aspects of life
are rationalized and
efficiency comes to
rule them, including
such things as food
preparation.
McDonald's in Beijing,
China.

14. “Ideal” Versus “Real” Bureaucracy (1 of 2)
• Characteristics are ideal types
• However, bureaucracies often operate in non-ideal
ways

15. Figure 7.1 The Typical Bureaucratic
Structure of a Medium-Sized University
Organization chart showing the hierarchy of positions at a university.
Source: By the author.

16. “Ideal Versus “Real” Bureaucracy (2 of 2)
Technology has changed our
lives fundamentally. The
connection to each telephone
call used to be made by hand.
As in this photo from the 1940s,
these connections were made
by women. Long-distance calls,
with their numerous handmade
connections, not only were
slow, but also expensive. In
1927, a call from New York to
London cost $25 a minute. In
today’s money, this comes to
$300 a minute!

17. Goal Displacement and the Perpetuation of
Bureaucracies (1 of 2)
• Goal displacement
• An organization replaces old goals with new ones
• Bureaucracy takes on a life of its own

18. Goal Displacement and the Perpetuation of
Bureaucracies (2 of 2)
The March of Dimes was founded
by President Franklin Roosevelt in
the 1930s to fight polio. When a
vaccine for polio was discovered
in the 1950s, the organization did
not declare victory and disband.
Instead, its leaders kept the
organization intact by creating
new goals— first “fighting birth
defects,” and now “helping
babies.” Sociologists use the term
goal displacement to refer to this
process of adopting new goals.

19. Dysfunctions of Bureaucracies (1 of 2)
• Red tape
• Lack of communication between units
• Bureaucratic alienation
• Resisting alienation
• The alienated bureaucrat
• Bureaucratic incompetence
• Peter Principle

20. Dysfunctions of Bureaucracies (2 of 2)
How is this worker
trying to avoid
becoming a
depersonalized unit in
a bureaucratic-
economic machine?

21. Voluntary Associations
7.3 Discuss the functions of voluntary associations, why people join them, and the
significance of the iron law of oligarchy.
• Functions of Voluntary Associations
• Motivations for Joining
• The Inner Circle and the “Iron Law” of Oligarchy

22. Functions of Voluntary Associations
• Associations
• Are used to express a variety of interests
• Offer people an identity
• Help maintain social order
• Some mediate between government and the
individual
• Provide training in organizational skills
• Some bring people into political mainstream
• Some pave the way for social change

23. Motivations for Joining
• Outlet for strong convictions
• “Looks good” on paper

24. The Inner Circle and the “Iron Law” of
Oligarchy
• The Inner Circle
• Key members who grow distant from rank and file
• The Iron Law of Oligarchy
• How organizations come to be dominated by a small,
self-perpetuating elite

25. Working for the Corporation
7.4 Discuss humanizing the work setting, fads in corporate culture, the “hidden”
corporate culture, and worker diversity.
• Humanizing the Work Setting
• Fads in Corporate Culture
• Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes in the “Hidden” Corporate
Culture
• Diversity in the Workplace

26. Humanizing the Work Setting
• Empowering workers through work teams
• Strength-based management
• Corporate child care
• Conflict perspective
• Conceals management’s true motives

27. Fads in Corporate Culture
• Quality circles
• Emotional integration
• Team building
• Cooking classes
• Ice sculpting
• Pseudo sumo wrestling

28. Self-Fulfilling Stereotypes in the “Hidden”
Corporate Culture
• Self-fulfilling stereotypes
• Who gets promoted?
• Who doesn’t?
• Why?

29. Diversity in the Workplace
• Clumsy early efforts
• Improvements
• Mentoring
• Virtual reality

30. Technology and the Maximum Security Society
7.5 Describe the capacity of a well-meaning but ruthless government to use
technology to enslave our minds and behavior to conform to its desires.
• Bureaucracy’s Potential to Create a Police State
• Power of the microchip
• Camera surveillance everywhere
• Smartphones and cars broadcast our location
• Maximum Security Society

31. Sociology and Technology: The Shifting
Landscape
As part of our developing
surveillance society, our
government is accumulating
images of faces. The goal is to
have the faces of all citizens
and residents in government
computerized files so any
person can be identified
immediately by face
recognition software, even if
the individual is just one in a
crowd of thousands.