University of Tasmania, Australia

For many sociologists and political scientists, bureaucracy is equivalent to modernity, and has generated debate at a theoretical or philosophical level about whether large organisations and the state have reduced our quality of life by placing us in an iron cage, or whether they are generally beneficial or even essential for human wellbeing. Although theorists and empirical researchers with this evaluative stance offer one way to appreciate and understand bureaucracy, they do not usually describe these tasks in much detail. This paper will consider an alternative way of looking at bureaucracy, drawing on Robert Merton's work during the early1950s, and at the sociological approach of ethnomethodology that employs ethnographic methods to investigate routine, day-to-day work inside organisations.  It will describe what is involved practically and communicatively in some ready-to-hand examples of administrative work in a university setting, and consider how some regulatory procedures are experienced as red tape. The paper argues that we can improve our understanding of bureaucracy through conducting naturalistic observation of systems and procedures, as well as drawing on a wide range of theoretical traditions.

Speaker

Max Travers is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania.  His main research interests are in the field of sociology of law, although he also published The New Bureaucracy (Policy Press, 2007) that examined the rise of quality assurance practices in public sector organisations.  He has recently edited the second edition of Law and Social Theory (Hart, 2013) with Reza Banakar.

Date: Friday, 8 November 2013

Time: 2 - 3 pm

Venue: Room 586, Social Sciences Building, Sandy Bay campus

All welcome. No RSVP required.

If you have any queries, please contact the School of Social Sciences, tel: 6226 2331, e:Social.Sciences@utas.edu.au

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