Bureaucracy

: This page is about the sociological concept. Bureaucracy is also the name of a computer game.

Origin of the concept

Bureaucracy is derived from the word bureau, used from the early 18th century in Western Europe not just to refer to a writing desk, but to an office, i.e. a workplace where officials worked. The original French meaning of "bureau" was the baize used to cover desks. The term bureaucracy came into use shortly before the French Revolution of 1789, and from there rapidly spread to other countries. The Greek suffix -kratia or kratos - means "power" or rule. Bureaucracy thus basically means office power or office rule, the rule of the officialdom.

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In a letter of July 1, 1764, the French Baron de Grimm declared: "We are obsessed by the idea of regulation, and our Masters of Requests refuse to to understand that there is an infinity of things in a great state with which a government should not conern itself. The late Monsieur de Gournay ... sometimes used to say: 'We have an illness in France which bids fair to play havoc with us; this illness is called bureaumania.' Sometimes he used to invent a fourth or fifth form of government under the heading of bureaucracy." In another letter of July 15, 1765 Baron Grimm wrote also: "The real spirit of the laws in France is that bureaucracy of which the late Monsieur de Gournay used to complain so greatly; here the offices, clerks, secretaries, inspectors and intendants are not appointed to benefit the public interest, indeed the public interest appears to have been established so that offices might exist" (Baron de Grimm and Diderot, Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique, 1753-69, 1813 edition, Vol. 4, p. 146 & 508 - cited by Martin Albrow, Bureaucracy. London: Pall Mall Press, 1970, p. 16).

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This quote refers to a traditional controversy about bureaucracy, namely the perversion of means and ends so that means become ends in themselves, and the greater good is lost sight of; as a corollary, the substitution of sectional interests for the general interest. The suggestion here is that, left uncontrolled, the bureauracy will become increasingly self-serving and corrupt, rather than serving society.

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However, bureaucracy existed long before words and theories were devised to describe it in detail.

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The Chinese Sung dynasty (960 AD) for example constructed a centralized bureaucracy staffed with civilian scholar-officials. This system of rule led to a much greater concentration of power in the hands of the emperor and his palace bureaucracy than was achieved in previous dynasties.

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