soci assignment 3

Account for the growth of bureaucracy in modern society.
(1996 Prelims)

In recent times, the term ‘bureaucracy’ has been seen with a negative connotation of being associated with red-tape, inefficiency and wastefulness. However, when the first notion of bureaucracy was conceived by Max Weber, it was seen as a form of organizational structure characterized by regularized procedure, division of responsibility, hierarchy and impersonal relationships, in order to be rational and efficient, whether or not it was a governmental or non-governmental agency.

The need for organisation traced back to ancient times; as society progress with increasing times, the spread of organisation has resulted in an increasingly specialized division of labour in society, away from the past needs of subsistence living in the earlier forms of society. The need to organize, direct and coordinate the myriad of activities of society has lead Weber to state his point that in any large-scale operation, some people must coordinate and control the activities of others. As such, an organisation with a hierarchy of authority and a system of rules is formed in the pursuit of a goal; bureaucracy is then known as the rule of officials.

Weber believed that this particular form of organisation, bureaucracy, was then becoming the defining characteristic of modern industrial society; his rational, ideal of type of bureaucracy was seen as an organisation with a hierarchy of paid, full-time officials who formed a chain of command amongst a division of labour, with power vested at the top management, concerned with the business of administration, controlling, managing and coordinating a complex series of tasks, through impersonality, expertise with a code of rules and regulations. By doing the above, it would contribute to an increase in efficiency.

One thing Weber was mindful of was that all these exists in an ideal form, and all organizations may not be equipped with the above features as people tend to act away from rational motives.

Other schools of thoughts also came up with different models of bureaucracy. Frederick Taylor, a Scientific Management theorist, pioneered a scientific study or organization to maximize efficiency. His assumptions about workers where that they were rational economic man, primarily motivated by money. The goal of the organisation is to be efficient and effective, and so, management at the top takes all responsibility in making decision and planning, while workers’ maximum potential were to be achieved through specialization, technical division of labour, good time planning and close supervision, and incentives being rewards for compliance and work satisfaction. As such, efficiency was to be enhanced.

The growth of bureaucracy and the universal trend of bureaucratization in modern society stemmed from the belief that its adoption could help enhance the efficiency and efficacy in all organisations. Bureaucratization of the two institutions crucial for modern society, politics and economy, were the main concerns of Weber.

In politics, as people’s motives shift from traditional to rationality and became governed by the mind, authority too shifted from traditional to rational-legal authority, and is left to a few to govern the state. The state (“an organisation which has the monopoly of violence over a given territory” -Weber) then is given the bureaucratic power to administer the day-to-day affairs of the society.

However, with increasing enlightenment and education the people receive, democratization is also increased. With the people being empowered with a louder presence, demanding new services for the welfare of the society, it raises the needs for greater central planning of the economy, regulation and taxation, and promotes the expansion of bureaucracy.

In the economy, rapid and constant changes has been made in the technology of production. After the Second World War, a huge boom in industrialization has resulted in mass production of goods and services, as well as the opening up the free market economy through the use of the price mechanism. The enlarged pie in the market, as well as the possibility to maximize their outputs by minimizing inputs has encouraged firms to increase in size and complexity of their operations in the organisation in modern society, and brings about uncertainty and confusion.

In order to manage the uncertainty and confusion, rational calculation dictates that a bureaucratic organisation can serve the purpose, as well as increasing efficiency to bring about the maximum returns to scale. By having a clear division of labour and transforming individuals into role-oriented, governed by rules, predictability is enhanced.

In essence, the growth of bureaucracy in modern society is spurred out of the technical necessity of administrative requirement of the large-scale operations of the state governments and the blooming industrial needs.

IBM assignment 2

IBM Assignment 2
Q1
(i) Briefly explain what is meant by the term “globalization”.
(3 marks)
(ii) What do you understand by the concept of a global commodity chain?
(8 marks)
(iii) Discuss what problems may result from a strategy of outsourcing.
(14 marks)
(Home 2004)


(i)
Globalisation, according to Kenichi Ohmae, refers to the shift towards a more integrated and independent world economy. As a result of the reach of the worldwide connectivity, globalisation can be seen as divided into two components; the globalisation of markets as well as the globalisation of production.

As a result of the vast reach of technology, it has enabled citizens of the world to experience a never-before connectivity to one another. As such, these citizens are exposed to a wider myriad of consumer goods and services, and thus, the term global consumers, where citizens of any one country are now made blurred. Global consumers thus demand goods and services of a certain quality, and of particular taste, and so comes another term of global products and brands. This, in turn, spurs firms to go global to extend their business to a bigger audience and consumer market.

The globalisation of production is one that mainly hinges on a now famous word: outsourcing. As a result of minimizing costs to seek greater profits, firms are now using an approach of diversifying their production to different regions where expertise is readily available, infrastructure is adequate, and cost of factors of production is low. As such, firms might have operations in many countries; each specializing in certain parts, or even extend their reach by having branches operating as a lone entity to cater to the distinctive market.

As Theodore Levitt once said, “The world has become a big global market”, this so exemplifies the globalisation of markets and the globalisation of production.

(ii)
The concept of a global commodity chain is one that can be used to understand how the stages of producing one product can be carried out in several different parts of the world, which is indirectly related to the globalisation of businesses. This, simply, is also known as outsourcing.

With increasing pressure to reach out to the world to attain a greater market share as well as reaching untapped potential consumers, firms are now encouraged to diversify their operations and market their products globally.

One result of this globalisation of business is of the international division of labour, where different type of work is conducted in different regions of the world or companies establishing bases all over the world to market their products.

Firstly, companies that attempt to reach a wider audience and to minimize cost (to maximize profits) would shift parts of their production the different regions of the world. Often, in making a decision to move comes into play a variety of factors, such as finding an adequate pool of people with the expertise, the support provided by the government, the technological edge along with the infrastructure to support the transfer and freight issues, and lastly, the cost of production.

In general, work that requires technicality, research-based, and services-related activities are located in the developed countries, where a ready pool of qualified workforce is in place, as well as other contributing factors. Singapore is able to attract foreign investments because of its largely educated workforce that possesses the expertise to produce high-end quality goods and services. The government has also in place various policies that exempts new industries from taxation for the first few years, and the corporate tax rate is consistently being revised (from the current 22% in YA2004 to the expected 20% in YA2005) to entice greater investments. The world class infrastructure supporting business, ranging from technology and freight services, is well developed and poised to handle the assigned tasks.

Work that is more of a manufacturing base requires mostly lower-skilled labour which is readily available in developing, third-world countries where the need of such expertise is low and the vast labour market is wide, thus lowering the costs of production in all. China, or even India, has a massive population that is able to take up such work, as their educational level and skills possessed is still lacking to handle work that requires greater skills and expertise. Even though infrastructure and education is now being put in priority to support and nurture the growing economy, there is still a lag, which they would eventually catch up. Political instability, in the case of India, may even deter investors from chipping in.

The global commodity chain market mainly shows the production process as well as the backward and forward linkages, where companies aim to integrate their companies towards their source, end, or even laterally, in operating and expanding their business.

One example would be of a paper-making factory. A paper-making factory may choose to expand and secure their operation by buying plantations to establish their source of production, in countries where land is cheap and suitable for the particular species of trees to flourish. This is known as a backward linkage. It can also choose to buy up competitors to increase their market share and presence or even to attain higher economies of scales, known as a lateral integration. And finally, it can also choose to further develop their business by buying up printing firms and offer publishing of books to customers. This is known as then, forward linkage integration.

This globalisation of business has made the global commodity chain possible, as goods and materials can be transported across continents cheaply to take advantage of cheaper sources of labour as well as the varying factors mentioned earlier, and to capitalize on market potential. Through this method of expansion via the ‘global commodity chain’, it has allowed companies the flexibility and geographical mobility to move production to wherever the most lucrative contract can be made and so, react quicker to changes in the wider business and international environment.

(iii)
A strategy of outsourcing may bring benefits that aimed at mainly, attaining a greater market share and higher profits through cost minimization. However, problems may crop up in the midst, where it may be just a trend to jump onto the bandwagon of outsourcing.

Firstly, one major factor to consider would be for the companies to decide on which country to outsource. As mentioned earlier, companies have to decide on the criterions to base their decision on, such as the availability of people with the expertise, the level of support provided by the government, the technological advancement and spread of IT in the country, ease of infrastructure to support the transfer and freight issues, and most importantly, the cost of production.

Often, many factors may come conflicting with the main interest of lowering cost of production, yet being a necessity, becomes an unnecessary rise in cost of production. In the case of American textile, outsourcing may become more expensive than the production in home country, where trade tariffs and quotas imposed in fact increases costs in production in relation to production in the home country.

Selection of the overseas trading partner is also a problem. There is the problem of whether the partner is trustworthy, especially in production of innovative goods and services that has been patented, is a major concern. Also, in countries where it is almost customary for the managers to line their own pockets with money from the company, siphoning the funds, along with the secret formula.

Along the same line, it would also pose as a shock to the foreign firm to the local culture. In such cases, there is a need to reconfigure the structure to incorporate the outsourcing activities. In China, it is said that one has to ‘provide favours’ to the higher officials to get things done, yet in other places, such practices are not tolerated. In the USA, laws can convict employees of unethical behaviour even though the act is committed outside USA. In Asia, the preferred structure of management would be a top-down one, whereas it is opposite to the Western culture of a democratic style of management.

Another concern is of quality and control of products, where in the midst of meeting targets and by quoting lower prices to win foreign investment contracts, quality and control of products are compromised. This may dent the company’s reputation, and deter consumers from getting their products. Thus, global benchmarking and best working practices must be instilled in the partners.

One other factor coming into play is where problems in fluctuating exchange rates may make outsourcing expensive. In a production, such as Boeing, where productions of different parts are made in different area, the core competencies of producing specific parts are left in the home country. With varying exchange rate, the whole process of assembling and flying the parts to a location for assembling may end up being more expensive.

Finally, the globalisation of markets has lead to a deregulation of financial market, where it is easier to obtain finance. This means also that one country’s performance index may be pegged to another, and the global financial market is subjected to shock waves, an example being that of Black Monday, 19th October 1987. On that particular day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 22.6%, the largest one-day decline in recorded stock market history. This one day decline was not confined to America, but mirrored all over the world.

In essence, there are benefits as well problems in regards to outsourcing. As such, the respective companies must try and anticipate and and prevent the problems from occuring that may incur greater costs rather than achieving the aim of lower costs.

Soci Assignment 2

BSc Assignment 2
Due 1st week of January


Compare Marx’s and Weber’s accounts of the rise of modern capitalism.

Capitalism, according to Marx, is a system of commodity production that aims for maximizing profits. Weber, however, sees capitalism rationally, as a distinct way of organizing economic enterprises, which inevitably leads to the creation of bureaucracy, which is seen as the only way of organizing large number of people effectively, therefore expanding economy and political growth.

The rise of modern capitalism was seen to have developed in Northern Europe in the 19th century. Marx, the most vocal in speaking out against capitalism, saw the causes of it being deeply rooted in economic contradictions and class conflict. His theory was supported by evidence that in previous history, primitive communism was practiced, where means of production as well as the products of labour were shared communally amongst the members of the community.

However, with passing time, development of forces of production and technology influenced and gave rise to social class, which divided the people into two broad categories of being either the dominant class or the subordinate class. The dominant class, known as the bourgeoisies, is made up of capitalists who own the means of production; the subordinate class, known as the proletariats, is made up of ordinary people who make up the labour force that operates the means of production to churn out products.

As such, the two classes are seen to have a relationship dependant on one another. However, as Marx has pointed out in his zero-sum model of power, power is fixed and unexpandable, and in the attempt to get more power by one class would mean a loss for the other. The dominant, capitalist class would often exploit the subordinate class through ways such as paying lower wages and giving lesser benefits so as to pursue greater profits. The subordinate class has no choice but to reluctantly accept the terms quoted by the dominant class, as there would always be a reserve army of labour due to other workers being unemployed. Therefore, the relationship would be better described as antagonistic.

Marx believed that the result of being exposed to capitalism would cause people to be alienated as they are unable to make use of their creativity, practice cooperative work as conscious and sentient people. The immense pressure would then build up, and eventually, lead to a big revolution where the oppressed would rise up against the dominant class, create a utopia where people would live together in communes.

Weber, who borrowed on the ideas of Marx, and expanded them to create his own theory on the rise of capitalism. This has made him seem to be arguing with ‘the ghost of Marx’. However, he shared his predecessor’s idea that one contributing factor of capitalism was of economical reasons, but not the only reason.

Weber sees the rise of capitalism as being started in the West, with religion as an indirect contributing factor. In his book of “The Protestant Ethics and The Spirit of Capitalism”, he theorized that the Protestants, gained ground with the people, and people began to practice the fundamental beliefs. The basis of the Protestants was that they were to live their lives humbly and puritanically, eschewing of all material desires and frivolous spending. They were not ruled by a single Church, unlike the Catholics, who were seen to be more tolerant and forgiving of sins of extravagant lavishes.

Increasingly, the Protestants then created a work ethics of “work-and-save”. The people remained dedicated and instilled pride in their jobs, which resulted in increased productivity. Their higher productivity translated to economic terms, meant more wealth. With thrift and simple living as a foundation in their beliefs, they accumulated even more wealth and inadvertently resulted in dividing the people into diverse classes, quite similar to Marx’s idea. (Weber expanded that class division was not linked just control of the means of production, but from other indirect economic differences such as the person’s market position and status accorded by others.)

The accumulated wealth was then reinvested to expand enterprise, and rationally, capitalism was born to maximize their returns. Once happy to just get by, the people now actively sought surpluses, and economic factors came into play.

In essence, Marx saw the rise of capitalism wholly as a result of economic reasons. Weber recognized that economic reasons were a factor, but not just the single, primary contributing factor, and sought a causal link towards religion, namely the Protestants, as the rise of capitalism.

mock exams tentative timetable

Soci Assignment 1 on Theory (011204)

Discuss the contribution to sociological theory of any TWO of the following theorists: (8 marks each – maximum 1½ pages)
- Durkheim or Parsons
- Marx
- Weber
- Mead

Emile Durkheim was considered as the person who has officially ‘created’ a scientific sociology through empirical studies; although there had been Comte and Spencer before him, their ideas were seen as outdated, and more of philosophical than scientific.

In his time, his scientific sociology has contributed to the understanding of how social order could be achieved in modernity, of how our lives as individuals are heavily influenced by the society we live in, and of the source of social change.

The underlying idea behind him is that of the assumption of human nature being driven by egoism (desire, passion, greed, selfishness), and therefore, a need of strong moral system to suppress and control egoism and to provide goal and guideline for their behaviour. When an individual lacks regulating norms or moral constraints, the person would become anomic (normlessness) and results in often undesirable consequences.

Society, in this case, provides morality and the ‘collective conscience’ that members of it abide by for a general consensus in society. The two functions of morality are of social integration (individuals sharing a shared set of value to be bonded as a group) and moral regulations (infinite desires of individuals being reined in by society’s guidelines) form the basis of his theory.

From there, he sees society as a structure in an organic view – an integrated ‘whole’ made up of parts, each performing specific, integrated and interdependent functions to the survival of the whole. Any part that is of no use would eventually be phased out, and the society would be in equilibrium at any time.

~*~*~*~*~

Karl Marx was born into a middle-class family in Germany, where he had later moved to France and then to England. In that process, he met many thinkers who influenced and shaped his theory.

To Marx, his key question is of the source of inequality and change, and often attributed it to capitalism (which was seen to be the root of many social problems). He seeked to develop a scientific explanation of change to create a utopia (from Sir Thomas More: “A utopia is an imaginative account of a perfect or ideal but unrealistic society) in a communist society through revolution.

From Germany, he was influenced by Hegal and Feuerbach, from which he derived his dialectic approach and alienation concept respectively. From France, he got the idea of ‘communes’ from St Simon, a taste of the working class from Engels, and through French history, the use of revolution through class struggle. And from England, he further borrowed on Adam Smith’s idea of the division of labour and David Ricardo’s theory of rent.

Underlying his theory, he believed in the positive aspects of human nature, as opposed to Durkheim. He believed that human beings need to have the ability to display their creativity and potential to produce the means of subsistence. He also believed that cooperating and working together is a natural and social process, and that human beings are ‘conscious’ and sentient beings. Any lack of the above aspects would result in man becoming alienated to himself.

As yet, his theory is often projected against capitalism, where in the midst to attain greater profit by capitalists, workers are often exploited, and results in class stratification, and the eventual alienation of oneself as a failure to fulfill the basic needs of humans. This inequality is thus the root of all problems.

Present a social issue/problem facing contemporary society and discuss how Durkheim, Marx and Mead might explain the issue differently. (No need to write their abstract theories) (9 marks – maximum 1½ pages)

Increasingly, the number of pets being abandoned by their owners has risen exponentially. The sharp rise has resulted in the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) to take prompt action in launching a campaign to encourage responsible pet-ownership, and to adopt rather than buy a pet.

Durkheim, alongside with his theory, believe that humans are primarily driven by egoism, and that is directly caused by the individuals’ relationship with society. Society, thus, have to provide the morality and ‘collective conscience’ for the individuals to be integrated into the group and to rein in their egoism to be in line with the society’s ‘regulations’.

In this case, these ‘irresponsible pet-owners’ are seen to be driven by egoism, where the term ‘ownership’ is taken literally and the pet is treated as a material item with no feelings. After getting tired of them, these ‘possessions’ are disposed of without further consideration. These individuals then are seen to be suffering from a lack of integration with fellow beings, thus a deviance in the shared value of the society. Also, it means that they are unable to keep a check on their selfishness, where they chose to take the easy way out rather than doing the right thing of making sure they keep up with their responsibility, or taking the responsibility to find someone responsible for it. The individual could be said to be suffering from anomie, a feeling of normlessness.

Marx, however, believed that Man is intrinsically good in nature, but that they are often oppressed by the economic circumstances they are in. The average working-class man is often being exploited by the capitalists (people who own the capitals towards the production of goods and services), and in doing so, deprive them of their basic requirements to being a sentient being. These requirements of using their ability and creativity to produce the means of subsistence, of cooperating as a natural and social process, and being ‘conscious’ are essential so that the person would not become alienated to oneself.

In this case, the abandoning of pets would be seen as the indirect workings of capitalism. These pet-owners are the average working-class people who are exploited by capitalists, and therefore even getting the meager subsistence level would be difficult, much less the ability to showcase their creativity. Instead of mere cooperating, individuals are then made to work alone and specialize, and thus, losing consciousness. In the whole process of alienation, these pet-owners are ‘forced’ by society to give up on their pets as a result of their compromised situation.

Mead, however, share the view that Man are individuals who influences the society, and not the vice versa. He sees man as having a mind of their own, to deliberately and rationally plan the course of action. He sees Man as having an “I” and “Self”, where one is of the person and the other as of the person being perceived. Society is then a network of interpersonal communication and interactions among individuals going on with their lives.

In this case, the abandonment of pets is seen as a somewhat selfish behaviour; the man, as “I”, has desires to be fulfilled, but the desires are fueled by the “Self”, where the desires are seen to part of the identity, “I”. As society is seen to be made up of a group of individuals, and having to answer to no one, having a pet is made a personal decision, and abandonment of pets are seen as yet another personal decision.

What are the similarities and differences between conflict and consensus mode of society. (4 marks – maximum ½ pages)

These conflict and consensus theories are similar in that they look at the whole of society. They are concerned with the influence of society on individuals, as well as the relationships between different parts of society, emphasizing on the ways in which individuals conform to social order as a result of structure.

However, the fundamental difference is in the way the see the state of social order in society. The consensus theorists see order, and a general equilibrium of the norms and values of society. The conflict theorists, however, see consensus as a ‘false consciousness’ that lulls people to perceive what benefits the capitalists.

The consensus theorists see social structure as a way of regulating norms and values of society, so people follow through; individuals are therefore born into social structures and have to live, learn, socialize and follow the existing norms and values of their societies. The conflict theorists, however, disagrees and sees it as not by choice but indirect coercion.

Consensus theorists see society as a structure of an integrated ‘whole’ made up of parts, each performing specific, integrated and symbiotic functions to the survival of the whole. Any part that is of no use would eventually be phased out, and the society would be in equilibrium at any time. Conflict theorists however, see the parts as having different importance, and the bias towards the ruling class. Education, for the consensus theorists, socializes individuals into having the same set of values, but for the conflict theorist, a sycophantic following skewed to the capitalists.

Academic Calendar [04-05]

+ [ Aug 04 - Feb 05 ] formal lect & tutorial

+ [End Feb 05 - early Mar 05] prelims

+ [mid Mar 05 - end Apr 05] UOL rev workshop

+ [early Apr 05 - mid May 05] SIM rev classes

+ [mid May 05 - mid Jun 05] UOL exams
+ [Stats] 10th May 05, Mon, 2 hrs
+ [Maths] 11th May 05, Tue, 2 hrs
+ [Econs] 12th May 05, Wed, 3 hrs
+ [Socio] 14th May 05, Fri, 3 hrs
+ [ IBM ] 24th May 05, Mon, 3 hrs

+ [mid Jun 05 - Jul 05] VACATION

+ [early Aug 05] new academic yr

+ [early Sep 05] release of exams results