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.

• Section 1: The Politics of Bureaucracy


• 1: Charles T. Goodsell: The Bureau as Unit of Governance


• 2: Paul du Gay: Bureaucracy and Liberty: State, Authority, and Freedom


• 3: Thomas Armbrüster: Bureaucracy and the Controversy Between Liberal Interventionism and Non-Interventionism


• Section 2: The End of Bureaucracy?


• 4: Paul Thompson and Mats Alvesson: Bureaucracy at Work: Misunderstandings and Mixed Blessings


• 5: Michael Reed: Beyond the Iron Cage? Bureaucracy and Democracy in the Knowledge Economy and Society


• 6: Graeme Salaman: Bureaucracy and Beyond: Managers and Leaders in the 'Post-Bureaucratic' Organization


• Section 3: Bureaucracy and Public Management


• 7: Paul Hoggett: A Service to the Public: The Containment of Ethical and Moral Conflicts by Public Bureaucracies


• 8: Janet Newman: Bending Bureaucracy: Leadership and Multi-Level Governance


• 9: John Clarke: Performing for the Public: Doubt, Desire, and the Evaluation of Public Services


• 10: Daniel Miller: What is Best 'Value'? Bureaurcarcy, Virtualism, and Local Governance


• Section 4: Bureaucracy and Civil Society


• 11: Yvonne Due Billing: Gender Equality: A Bureaucratic Enterprise?


• 12: Anonino Palumbo and Alan Scott: Bureaucracy, Open Access, and Social Pluralism: Returning the Common to the Goose


• 13: Mike Savage: The Popularity of Bureaucracy: Involvement in Voluntary Associations

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.