bureaucrat

person

collective noun

bureaucracy

light bulb joke

administration

administrator

manual labor

is armed against the politician with the 'official secret' 'the specific invention of bureaucracy, and nothing is so fanatically defended by the bureaucracy as this attitude'.

A powerful weapon in the bureaucrats' hands is the 'official secret', which is 'the specific invention of bureaucracy, and nothing is so fanatically defended by the bureaucracy as this attitude' (Weber, in Gerth and Mills 1974: 233). Secrecy staves off deliberation, and thus politics itself, which becomes 'a strong and slow boring of hard boards' (Weber, in Gerth and Mills 1974: 128).

is one who is dead at 30 and buried at 60.

Bureaucrats: they are dead at 30 and buried at 60. They are like custard pies... you can't nail them to a wall.

is one who suffers from 'trained incapacity' resulting from 'overconformity'.

American sociologist Robert K. Merton expanded on Weber's theories of bureaucracy in his work Social Theory and Social Structure, published in 1957. While Merton agreed with certain aspects of Weber's analysis, he also considered the dysfunctional aspects of bureaucracy, which he attributed to a 'trained incapacity' resulting from 'overconformity.' He saw bureaucrats as more likely to defend their own entrenched interests than to act to benefit the organization as a whole. He also believed bureaucrats took pride in their craft, which led them to resist changes in established routines. Merton also noted that bureaucrats emphasized formality over interpersonal relationships, and had been trained to ignore the special circumstances of particular cases, causing them to come across as 'arrogant' and 'haughty.' (wikipedia)

is a government official who sees his duty and gets someone else to do it.

A bureaucrat is a government official who sees his duty and gets someone else to do it.

is a man who talks English but writes in officialese.

A bureaucrat is a man who talks English but writes in officialese.

is a politician who has swapped his bunk for a berth.

A bureaucrat is a politician who has swapped his bunk for a berth.

is all alike: they think it's their business to delay other people's business.

Bureaucrats are all alike: they think it's their business to delay other people's business.

bureaucrat, n.Definitions

bureaucrat