Modern Man's Self-Strangulation: Max Weber's Iron Cage of Bureaucracy

By Tom Kando

In his seminal “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,” Max Weber spoke of the “iron cage” in which rationalization and bureaucracy increasingly trap (Western) man.

Do we not all feel Weber’s Iron Cage of Bureaucracy, increasingly strangling us, destroying common sense and humanity? Here are some examples:

1. I play in a community band. We give free concerts - in churches, in city parks, etc. So yesterday I go to my exercise fitness center with a flyer about our next concert, and I ask them to post the flyer on one of the club’s bulletin boards. Their response: “No sir, we don’t do that here.” I explain that I’m not selling anything, that our band’s performances are free, etc. The answer remains the same: “No sir, our regulations forbid this.”

2. Our doctor’s secretary Michelle calls us at home. The purpose of her call is to remind my wife Anita that she has a routine appointment tomorrow. I pick up the phone. My wife Anita isn’t home. I ask Michelle what it’s in regard to. She refuses to answer my question. She won’t give me the message to remind my wife that she has an appointment tomorrow. Privacy law prohibits her to do so, she says. She asks Anita to call her back. This will require 2 or 3 more phone calls, telephone tag, being put on hold, etc. before Anita finds out what Michelle’s call was about (a useless call to begin with, since Anita was perfectly aware of her appointment tomorrow anyway).


3. A couple of years ago, I broke my arm. It required surgery, antibiotics, etc. A few months later, I had my biannual dental check and cleaning. My dentist informed me that from now on, I will need to take prophylactic antibiotics prior to every biannual dental check and cleaning, for the rest of my life, because of that broken arm surgery two years ago.

4. This one has been on the books for many years: For years, at the University, we had been posting our students’ grades on our office doors or electronically. Convenient both for the students and for the faculty, right? But for the past several years, student privacy laws forbid instructors from doing this any longer, even if only posting the last 4 digits of students’ social security numbers.

5. Some school districts have banned playing tag, arguing that it harms children’s self-esteem.

6. All sorts of July 4th firecrackers are now banned, even though many are fun and present little hazard.

7. All sorts of playground facilities, jungle gyms and concrete surfaces are illegal, even though many are fun and present little hazard.

8. In Most of the Sacramento metropolitan region, Saturday night cruising has been outlawed, even though it was a fun, harmless and quintessentially American tradition.

9. Of course, most jurisdictions have curfews for teenagers, which is unnecessary and oppressive.

10. Or take helmet requirements: Although many of them are reasonable, there is a tendency to overreach. I’m not sure that skiers should be required to wear helmets. What’s next? Pedestrians too?

11. Then there are all the new politically correct rules pertaining to gender: For example, the law forbids prospective employers to ask (female) job applicants their marital status. Besides being discriminatory against men, the law should not exist for either gender. Oh sure, the intent is to combat potential discrimination against women. But discrimination against whom? married women? single women? Married women might have children and quit their job, but single women might be perceived as less reliable. The law is a crock.

12. And remember the recent flap about President Obama calling California Attorney general Kamala Harris good looking? He had to apologize for that. Since when is a compliment an insult?

13. And don’t even get me started on all the useless and counterproductive requirements imposed by Homeland Security - starting with the utterly useless requirement to take off your shoes when going through security.

There are about 30,000 new laws and ordinances passed in the U.S. every year, Big Brother and the Nanny State are legislating everything. This is driven by three things: Politicians’ need to play popularity games with the electorate, the litigation explosion and society’s inability to accept any risk whatsoever. If a new law saves ONE life - but inconveniences one hundred million people - the law is adopted. That's what legislatures do - they make new laws. But how does it work, in the long run? Can even lawyers know most of the laws? Shouldn't an equal number of laws be repealed? Aren't we going to be asphyxiated by our laws? leave comment here