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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > Sociology > The Superiority of Bureaucracy over other Forms of Administration

Weber states that the gulf between administration via bureaucratic and non-bureaucratic forms is similar to that gulf between production carried out via mechanical and non-mechanical forms. Specifically, he compares bureaucracy to administration by notables and administration by collegiate bodies.

Bureaucracy has less conflicts of interests

In administrations lead by notables and collegiate bodies, there is inevitably a conflict of interests. This creates delays which slow down progress until a compromise between views is reached.

Bureaucracy promotes capitalism

Bureaucracy only develops in a money economy and only where authority is under legal domination. Bureaucracy promotes capitalism in four ways:

• Bureaucracy enhances the speed of business operations by promoting the regulation of work and a chain of command
• Capitalism presupposes the rapid discharge of business activity and adherence to calculable rules
• Bureaucracy "dehumanises", and leads to less decisions based on emotion
• It demands the detached expert rather, who tends to be more trained, rather than the remnants of older social structures who were inefficient

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