Hierarchies

1
Hierarchies
2
Critique of Individual theories

• In the last section, theorists focused on how
  people come to share common understandings of a
  situation
• In other words, how people come to know the rules
  of the game
• Peoples behavior will reflect this understanding
• Once they know the rules, they will follow them
• But this approach ignores the possibility of
  self-interest
• Even people who know the rules might be tempted
  to cheat

3
Critique of Individual theories, contd

• Common language and concepts may be necessary to
  produce cooperation, but they are insufficient
• Cohen and Vandellos South
• Intrafamily conflict

4
Critique, contd

• How then do we get people to follow the rules?
  How do we get people to cooperate even when doing
  so is counter to their self-interest?

5
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
6
Hobbes question

• How is social order possible?

7
Hobbes assumptions

• People have the capacity to reason
• They weigh the costs and benefits
• They consider the consequences of their actions

8
Hobbes assumptions, contd

• People are self-interested
• They seek to attain what they desire
• Security (avoid death and injury)
• Reputation (status)
• Gain (possessions)

9
Assumptions, contd

• Their ability to attain what they desire depends
  on their power
• Because men want a happy life, they seek
  sufficient power to ensure that life
• All men have a restless desire for power

10
Assumptions, contd

• But men are equal in body and mind
• Everyone is pulled into a constant competitive
  conflict for a struggle for power
• Or at least to resist his powers being commanded
  by others

11
Assumptions, contd

• Without a power that is able to enforce rules,
  people dont enjoy their interactions with each
  other

12
Implications

• The natural state of man is a war of all against
  all (the state of nature)
• People who want the same things will be enemies
• They will use all means (including force and
  fraud) to attain their ends

13
Characteristics of the state of nature

• People are insecure, and live in a constant fear
  of injury and death
• There is no place for industry, because the fruit
  of it is uncertain
• Hence, no agriculture, navigation, building,
  culture, science
• Life is short and unpleasant

14
Characteristics of the state of nature

• Nothing can be unjust
• The notions of right and wrong, justice and
  injustice have no place

15
Hobbes defense of his assumptions

• The fact that people lock their doors at night
  (even in the 16th century!) provides support for
  Hobbes view that people are naturally inclined
  to use force and fraud

16
Hobbes

• People dont like the state of nature
• They therefore have a desire for social order

17
Summary of the problem of social order

• Man is a rational egoist who fears death
• His egoism ?competition and war with all others
• He is engaged in a zero-sum game
• His fear of death and desire for commodious
  living ? demand for social order

18
Hobbes solution

• Under these conditions, how can social order be
  attained?
• In the state of nature, people have liberty
• Since man is rational, he will never use his
  power to harm himself
• Man will try to attain peace only if he is
  convinced that everyone else will do the same

19
How to make sure that everyone would seek peace?

• No use for everyone to merely agree to give up
  their individual sovereignty
• because men would still be rational egoists and
  would renege whenever it was to their advantage
• They would have to transfer them to some person
  or body who could make the agreement stick
• By having the authority to use the combined force
  of all the contractors to hold everyone to it
• Agreements alone dont have any force without
  some coercive power to back them up

20
The solution surrender of sovereignty

• The only way to provide social order is for
  everyone to acknowledge a perpetual sovereign
  power (the state, or Leviathan) against which
  each of them would be powerless
• This represents a coercive solution to the
  problem of social order. Due to rational egoism,
  the only means of providing order is by
  establishing a state that would punish would-be
  miscreants.

21
Hobbes Summary of causal relations and mechanisms

• Macro-level cause war of all against all
• Situational mechanism people want security
• Individual internal state desire order
• Behavioral mechanism rational egoists decide to
  give up sovereignty to the state
• Individual action People give up sovereignty to
  the state
• Transformational mechanism Aggregation
• Macro-level outcome/cause state
• Situational mechanism Individuals evaluate new
  costs of deviance
• Individual internal state Recognize that
  deviance is costly
• Behavioral mechanism Individuals want to avoid
  costs
• Individual action Obedience
• Transformational mechanism Aggregation
• Macro-level outcome Social order

22
Hobbes Draw the theory

Social order
War of all against all
Formation of the state
Unhappy life
Individuals give up rights
Individual compliance
Costs of disobedience
23
Hobbes

• How do we know if the theory has merit?
• Look at the empirical world
• For example, do societies without government have
  more violence than societies with governments?
  (Cooney 1997)

24
Friedrich Engels
25
Engels on the state

• Like Hobbes, Engels views the state as necessary
  for social order
• However, the origin of the state is different
• Hobbes a world of equal individuals
• Engels a world of unequal classes

26
Classes

• Defined by their relation to the means of
  production
• Owners
• Non-owners
• Are important because production determines
  consciousness (Marx)

27
Classes

• The interests of the dominant and subordinate
  classes conflict
• Their behavior reflects their conflicting
  interests
• So, societies are prone to conflict

28
Classes

• The class with the most economic power becomes
  the political power

29
Engels How the state encourages compliance

• It represents the interests of the ruling class
  as against the class made up of non-owners
• Mechanism coercion, supplemented by
  ideology/religion
• Coercion
• Fines
• Prison
• Ideology/religion
• Makes dominance by the ruling class seem natural

30
Engels How the state encourages compliance,
contd

• Example 1984
• Coercion via
• Monitoring (telescreens)
• Sanctioning
• Ideology/persuasion
• Control over information
• Ministry of truth

31
Engels Draw the theory

Dominance by Powerful State
Social Order
Class Conflict
Costs of deviance, view of whats appropriate
Compliance
32
Engels

• How do we know if the theory has merit?
• Look at the empirical world
• E.g. Do governments protect the interests of the
  wealthy?
• Do religion, education, and so forth benefit the
  wealthy?

33
Education (Bowles and Gintis)

• Education perpetuates inequality
• Those with wealthy, educated parents have more
  years of school and are more likely to attend
  college
• Parental socio-economic status is a better
  predictor of college attendance than the
  students IQ
• Children of highly educated parents do better on
  standardized test scores
• Less money is spent on schools that poor children
  attend

34
Education, contd

• Education perpetuates existing status structures
• The structure of schools corresponds to the
  structure of the economic world
• Role relationships replicate the hierarchical
  division of labor
• Students dont control curriculum content
• Rewards are external (grades) rather than
  internal/intrinsic

35
Education, contd

• There is a hierarchical division of types of
  schools like there is for types of jobs
• At work lower levels emphasize rule-following
  middle levels emphasize dependability and ability
  to act without supervision higher levels stress
  internalization of norms
• At school lower levels (junior and senior high)
  limit and channel activities of students.
  Community colleges have more independent
  activity. Elite four year colleges even more so.
• As students master each level, they either
  progress to the next or are channeled into the
  corresponding level in the hierarchy of
  production.

36
Critique of coercive theories of social order

• Hobbes cannot explain social order
• Why should rational egoists in the state of
  nature ever be willing to lay down their arms and
  surrender their liberty to a coercive ruler?

37
Critique of coercive solutions

• Hobbes solution to the problem of order
  stretches the conception of rationality beyond
  its scope in the rest of the theory, to a point
  where the actors come to be concerned about the
  social interest rather than their individual
  interests (Parsons 1937)
• In the absence of normative limits on the use of
  force and fraud there will be an unlimited
  struggle for power
• But there are no normative elements in Hobbes
  (nor are these central in Marx-Engels)

38
Critique of coercive solutions

• Very high levels of coercion would be required to
  produce social order. But,
• Coercion is expensive
• Need a cop on every corner
• A telescreen in every room (1984)
• Coercion is ethically unappealing
• Proudhons list of the domestic inconveniences
  of the state

39
Max Webers contributions

• 1. The concept of legitimacy
• 2. Three types of social order

40
Legitimacy

• In every social order, commands will be obeyed by
  a given group of individuals
• To ensure this, there must be some voluntary
  compliance
• people must have an interest in obeying the
  rules/laws
• Thus, every type of social order cultivates the
  belief in its legitimacy

41
Legitimacy implicitly recognized in Marxism

• To forestall class conflict, the ruling class
  attains intellectual hegemony by supporting
• (State) churches religion the opiate of the
  people
• Schools
• The mass media
• In capitalism, political, military, religious,
  media institutions are dependent on the ruling
  class
• Serve the interests of the ruling class
• Justify exploitation of the working class
• The Orwellian conclusion
• In 1984, the ruling class molds thinking, through
  its control over media, language, etc.

42
Legitimate orders

• Requires administrative staff to rule large
  numbers of people
• Staff a specialized group normally trusted to
  execute policy
• Every system of order
• Has a way to bind the staff to the ruler
• Has a way to bind the ruled to the ruler

43
Three ideal types of social order

• Abstract models of social conditions
• Patrimonial (Traditional order)
• Rests on the belief in the sanctity of
  traditions, and the legitimacy of the rulers
  selected thereby
• Bureaucratic (Legal order)
• Rests on the belief in the legality of enacted
  rules, and the right of those elevated in
  authority under such rules to issue commands
• Charismatic
• Rests on devotion to the exceptional sanctity,
  heroism, or exemplary character of an individual
  person

44
How are these types arrived at?

• By assuming what instrumental, self-interested
  actors would do, if they found themselves in the
  given social conditions
• Weber imagines how rational egoists would behave
  in these conditions

45
Charismatic order

• There are no fixed rules
• Leaders make their own rules (said to come from a
  higher power)
• Gandhi
• Order does not depend on a continuous source of
  income
• Wealth not pursued in a methodical manner
• Regards as undignified all rational economic
  conduct
• Master and disciples must be free of ordinary
  worldly attachments

46
Charismatic order, contd

• Followers are not materially compensated
• They often share in the goods the leader receives
  as donations
• Ability of leader to provide goods sets a limit
  on charismatic authority
• Leaders mission must prove itself by fulfilling
  the values of faithful followers (and providing
  some subsistence to them)

47
Patrimonial order

• Rests on the sanctity of age-old rules and powers
• Masters chosen according to these rules, obeyed
  because of their traditional status
• Motivational basis
• Personal loyalty
• When exercising power, the master must consider
  how far he can go without inciting resistance
• When resistance occurs, directed against the
  master personally, not against the system as such

48
Recruitment to staff

• People are recruited to a patrimonial staff
  either via
• Traditional ties of loyalty
• Kinsmen, slaves, dependents, clients, etc.
• Example Saddam Hussein recruits from Tikrit
• Voluntarily
• People who willingly enter into a relation of
  loyalty to the leader
• (Tom Hagen, the consigliere to the Corleone
  family)

49
Factors absent from patrimonial orders

• Clearly defined spheres of competence subject to
  impersonal rules
• Rationally established hierarchies
• An orderly promotion system
• Technical training as a requirement
• Fixed monetary salaries

50
How are patrimonial staff compensated?

• By living from the lords table
• By allowances in kind
• By rights of land use in exchange for services
• By the appropriation of property income, fees, or
  taxes
• By fiefs

51
A contemporary example

• Francis Ford Coppola, The Godfather, Part I

52
The bureaucratic order

• Based on the rule of law
• Abstract rules established intentionally
• Law applies these general rules to specific
  cases, so as to rationally pursue the
  organizations interests
• Office holders themselves subject to an
  impersonal order
• Members owe obedience to superiors not as
  individuals, but only to the impersonal order
• Incumbents obliged to obey only within the scope
  of their job description
• Members owe obedience to superiors not as
  individuals, but only to the impersonal order.

53
Fundamental characteristics of bureaucracy

• Official business conducted according to formal
  rules
• Hierarchy
• Each lower office is under the control and
  supervision of a higher one
• Each office has a distinct sphere of competence
• Candidates for office selected according to
  technical qualifications
• tested by exams, guaranteed by diplomas
• Incumbents cannot buy their offices
• Instead, staff are paid by fixed money salaries,
  usually with pensions

54
Bureaucracy, contd

• The office regarded as the primary occupation of
  the incumbent
• It constitutes a career, with a system of
  promotion based on seniority, merit or both
• Officials accountable to superiors for their
  conduct in office
• Administrative acts, decisions and rules
  formulated and recorded in writing
• Meetings with minutes

55
Bureaucracy, contd

• Rights of individuals are protected
• This prevents the arbitrary use of power by
  superiors in the service of extra-organizational
  goals
• Procedural justice
• The right to appeal decisions and statements of
  grievances

56
Types of bureaucratic organizations

• Governments
• Armies
• Profit-making firms
• Including professional sports teams
• Universities
• Charitable organizations

57
The rationale of bureaucracy

• It is the most efficient form of administration
• It is the most stable and disciplined
• Its activities are the most predictable
• It can be used to accomplish a variety of tasks.

58
Bureaucracy the modern system of authority

• Modern organizations are types of bureaucracies
• Bureaucracy -- by far the most efficient means of
  administration

59
The advantages of bureaucracy

• Takes advantage of the division of labor
• Based on technical knowledge
• ?greater precision, speed and objectivity in
  administrative organization
• Ensures that the best people are selected for
  each position
• Recruitment according to expertise
• Provides a basis for individual accountability
• Superiors grade performance of their subordinates
• Promotion in the career contingent on good
  performance

60
Advantages, contd

• Contributes to social levelling
• Meritocratic rather than particularistic
  recruitment
• Affinities with democracy
• High stability
• Sometimes, too stable bureaucratic inertia
• Democratic decision-making can be inefficient

61
Some disadvantages of bureaucracy

• Concentrates power in the hands of a small number
  of people
• Those at the top of the various hierarchies
• Slow to adapt to environmental changes
• Akin to turning around a large oil tanker
• Discourages individualism, creativity, and
  risk-taking
• An iron cage

62
A key question

• Bureaucracy is a modern invention dates from the
  late 18th century, at the earliest
• Yet if it is such an efficient system of
  administration, then why isnt it found
  everywhere in space and time?
• Answer bureaucracy has certain preconditions
  that were not able to be met until modern times

63
Why patrimonialism?

• What does an instrumentally rational leader do in
  the absence of modern technology of communication
  and exchange?
• The 3 essential tasks of administration
• Recruiting an effective staff
• Motivating the staff
• Monitoring its compliance

64
Comparing the two orders
Patrimonialism Bureaucracy
Recruiting Dependents Experts
Motivating (Sanctioning) No Job Security Extreme vulnerability Job Security Advancement based on performance
Monitoring Difficult Hence reliance on sanctions alone Administrative Hierarchy
65
Question

• If bureaucracy is the most efficient system of
  administration, why isnt it found in the Mafia?

66
Weber Draw the theory

Characteristics of the authority
Social order
Individuals view ruler as legitimate
Individuals obey ruler demands
67
Weber

• How do we know if the theory has merit?
• Look at the empirical world

68
Paul Willis
69
Willis, Learning to Labour

• Consequence of the counter-school culture poor
  achievement ? placement in working-class jobs
• The emergence of a counter-school culture
• lads vs. ear oles
• Conflict over dress and personal attractiveness
  about the legitimacy of the school as an
  institution
• having a laff

70
Lessons from Willis

• Legitimacy needed for cooperation, but not
  predictability
• The order in the working-class school is not
  legitimate, yet students behave in a predictable
  way
• They commit everyday acts of resistance
• Consequence reproduction of the existing class
  structure