The Values of Bureaucracy

The end of bureaucracy has been anticipated many times throughout the history of management science as well as in modern social and political theory. This book sets out to show why bureaucracy persists and what values it embodies and upholds. Thus the book seeks to show how and why bureaucratic forms of organization have played, and continue to play, a vital and productive role in ordering our political, social, economic and cultural existence. This book also describes and analyzes the impact of contemporary programs of organizational reform in the public and private sectors on bureaucratic structures, and seeks to highlight some of the costs of attempts to de-bureaucratize organizational life in business, government, and the third sector. Overall the volume highlights the values of bureaucracy and at the same time indicates why distinctively bureaucratic forms of organization should continue to be valued. Paul du Gay is Professor of Sociology and Organization Studies, and Co-Director of the Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance, in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the Open University. His research is located in the sociology of organizational life and cultural studies. His recent publications include, In Praise of Bureaucracy (Sage, 2000) and Cultural Economy (ed. with M. Pryke, 2002). Culture, Person and Organization: Essays in Cultural Economy will be published by Sage in 2005.