Social Organization

August 06, 2007 Lecture 1

Social Organization- central to society
E.g. family, school, work place, religious institution etc.

Pre industry era, the main forms of social organization were family, church, with far relationship with the states, or kings, depends on location.

Singapore, for example, had gone through a few stages:
- Temasek, a fishing village, in which social organization were mainly formed with family, friends, or church
- British colony Singapore, social organization increased, the states power was more present, more locals worked for civil services.
- Early immigration, importance of clan association; and extended family
- Modern organization, proliferation in modern society; individual has to be constantly dealt with modern organization.

Formal Organisation:large, secondary groups that are organised to achieve their goal efficiently.


Characteristics of Modern Organization:
- Specialization – special people do specific tasks
- Authorization- give order and obey order
- Hierachization (hierarchy) different level authority
- Credentializaiton (credential) qualification to relate
- Stratification- different people being rewarded differently, more according to position rather than to person
- Centralization- control, allocation and logistics
- Impersonalization- task, authority lines with position rather than person,

Weber’s Iron cage of Bureaucracy

Bureaucracy is an organisational model rationally designed to perform complex tasks efficiently.

Despite our reliance on bureaucracy on managing our daily lives, the problem of bureaucracy, ranging from its tendency to dehumanise and alienate individuals to the threats it poses to personal privacy and political democracy.

1. Bureaucratic alienation, impersonalisation is the very purpose for bureaucratic organisation to foster efficiency simultaneously denies officials and clients the ability to respond to each other's unique, personal needs. That causes alienation


2. Inefficiency and ritualism, the tedious rules and regulations and procedures to the point of thwarting an organisation's goals.


3. Inertia, refers to the tendency of bureaucratic organisations to perpetuate themselves. Occasionally, a formal organisation that meets its goals will simply disband, more commonly, an organisation stays in business by redefining its goals so it can continue to provide a livelihood for its members.


4. Abuse of power: oligarchy, the rule of the many by few. Robert Michel's (1876-1936) reveals that this hierarchical structure concentrates power and endangers democracy.

An institute created for rationality and freed society, now becomes constrains to society.