Modern Bureaucracy and the Segmentation of the Working Class

Global Social Change
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Question 1: Modern Bureaucracy and the Concepts of Social Fairness, Justice and Equality
There are several ways in which modern bureaucracy promotes as well as denigrates the concepts of social fairness, justice, and equality. Let us start with the concept of social fairness. Social fairness is often described as the perception of the extent to which an activity or action is right or fair. The perceptions about how right or fair an action is may differ from community to community. Nevertheless, when discussing the concept of social fairness, it is safe to go with those concepts that are generally agreed upon by most members of the society. Having observed that, the following is a discussion of how modern bureaucracy promotes social fairness. First, modern bureaucracies are characterized by impersonal relationships (Mouzelis, 2017). As a consequence, every person in the bureaucratic organization is exposed to the same set of rules or procedures. This impersonal nature ensures social fairness since no person is treated more or less fairly than the other. Here is an example. Suppose the rules of a bureaucratic organization states that every person should report to their jobs by 8 am and outline the consequences for not adhering to those regulations. Such a rule would have the same consequences to all the employees without discrimination. Modern bureaucracy may also denigrate social fairness. The most common way in which modern bureaucracies denigrate social fairness is through being slow to respond to issues relating to social fairness. Here is an example. Suppose an employee complains to the management about a colleague who has sexual harassment traits. While such a matter generally needs to be marked as urgent, it may take plenty of time before it is addressed by a bureaucratic organization. The end result is that social fairness is denigrated.
Justice refers to the legal/ philosophical instruments through which fairness is administered. The famous adage that justice delayed is justice denied can never be truer. Modern bureaucracy has both promoted and denigrated the concept of justice. Due to the complex nature of modern organizations and the evolvement of cultures, most modern bureaucracies have introduced a department of justice in their organizations (Mixon, 2019). These departments ensure that there is a working professional code of ethics that should be followed by every professional. They also provide for the rights and privileges of various stakeholders and the consequences of any party that denies or withholds those rights. Through such mechanisms, justice is promoted. Here is an example. In healthcare organizations, nurses are guided by a professional code of conduct. If a nurse causes harm to a patient by a failure of observing the ethical principles, that nurses face appropriate consequences such as revoking of their licenses. The patient on the other hand receives appropriate compensation. Modern bureaucracy also denigrates justice. The most common way through which this phenomenon occurs is through delays. An example is the justice system. The justice system has been accused of taking too long t...