Bureaucracy in Catch-22
Bureaucracy in Catch-22
When the word “bureaucracy” first appeared over one hundred years ago, it actually indicated something positive. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, governments were run via the simple exercise of power by ruling authorities. However, as growing populations made this process unwieldy and inefficient, it became clear that a new kind of administrative system was necessary. It was German political economist Max Weber who coined the term “bureaucracy” to describe a new theory of administration that brought the same logic to government work that the assembly line brought to the factory – a rational and effective method of organization. Bureaucracy began as an administrative system of bureaus and departments staffed with a hierarchy of nonelected officials who discharged their authority by following fixed policies and procedures. However, as bureaucratic administrations grew to match the needs of government, these policies and procedures became characterized by excessive red tape and routines so rigid and complex that they impeded effective action instead of facilitating it. In time bureaucracies became not only ineffective, but problematic. Eventually the term “bureaucracy” became associated with administrative systems so complex and unwieldy that they had come to dominate and even abuse the people they were intended to serve. That this aspect of modern postwar life is given so much weight in a novel set during World War II indicates just how destructive an influence Heller felt bureaucracy had become in our lives. Too often in the satiric black comedy of Catch-22, the workings of bureaucracy seem to have a more deadly influence on the Fighting 256th Squadron than “all the … grisly connivers in all the beer halls in Munich and everywhere else.”
For example, consider an ineffective bureaucrat in a middle-management position driving his workers to perform beyond their assigned quotas to impress an upper-management superior. In today’s
When the word “bureaucracy” first appeared over one hundred years ago, it actually indicated something positive. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, governments were run via the simple exercise of power by ruling authorities. However, as growing populations made this process unwieldy and inefficient, it became clear that a new kind of administrative system was necessary. It was German political economist Max Weber who coined the term “bureaucracy” to describe a new theory of administration that brought the same logic to government work that the assembly line brought to the factory – a rational and effective method of organization. Bureaucracy began as an administrative system of bureaus and departments staffed with a hierarchy of nonelected officials who discharged their authority by following fixed policies and procedures. However, as bureaucratic administrations grew to match the needs of government, these policies and procedures became characterized by excessive red tape and routines so rigid and complex that they impeded effective action instead of facilitating it. In time bureaucracies became not only ineffective, but problematic. Eventually the term “bureaucracy” became associated with administrative systems so complex and unwieldy that they had come to dominate and even abuse the people they were intended to serve. That this aspect of modern postwar life is given so much weight in a novel set during World War II indicates just how destructive an influence Heller felt bureaucracy had become in our lives. Too often in the satiric black comedy of Catch-22, the workings of bureaucracy seem to have a more deadly influence on the Fighting 256th Squadron than “all the … grisly connivers in all the beer halls in Munich and everywhere else.”
For example, consider an ineffective bureaucrat in a middle-management position driving his workers to perform beyond their assigned quotas to impress an upper-management superior. In today’s