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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Sociology > Formal and Substantive Rationality

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Contents 1 Rationality 2 Formal Rationality 3 Substantive Rationality 4 Comments

Rationality

An orientation to reality which weighs up the means and ends of action in a straightforward and pragmatic manner.

Formal Rationality

A type of decision making which is subject to calculation that goes into an action to increase its chance of success. Its decisive feature is that it eliminates an orientation to values because they are non-technical. Rationality is formal when problems are solved by the application of technical criteria.

Substantive Rationality

A type of decision making which is subject to values and an appeal to ethical norms. Substantive rationality does not take into account the nature of outcomes.

Weber argues that formal rationality had replaced substantive rationality, because bureaucracy stresses a technical orientation to means and ends.

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