3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions

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Bureaucracy: a moral perspective
(2008-09-10T07:09:42Z) Koll, Sandy Gillian
In this research report, I question the moral justification of bureaucracy. After pointing out some arguments in favour of bureaucracy and some teleological, or result-based, arguments against bureaucracy, I pay particular attention to deontological, or process-based, moral arguments against bureaucracy. The two main arguments against bureaucracy that I address are (1) that bureaucracies constitute unfair decision making procedures in democratic societies, and (2) that bureaucracies treat their participants (both clients and workers) disrespectfully. I then give some suggestions of what a promising alternative to bureaucracy might look like, based on the two main arguments against bureaucracy that I consider. Ultimately, I conclude that it is still an open question whether bureaucracy is morally justified, but that my research brings to the fore some serious moral problems with bureaucracy that are worth taking note of. Even if it turns out that the results of bureaucratic organisation are so beneficial that bureaucracy is, all things considered, justified, the moral problems that I point out in this research are worth serious consideration.