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Journal ArticleDOI

Weber on legitimate norms and authority.

01 Jun 1970-British Journal of Sociology (Br J Sociol)-Vol. 21, Iss: 2, pp 123-134
About: This article is published in British Journal of Sociology.The article was published on 1970-06-01. It has received 225 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Authority & Tripartite classification of authority.
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TL;DR: A review of trends in employment relations, interdivisional relations, and interfirm relations finds evidence suggesting that the effect of growing knowledge-intensity may indeed be a trend toward greater reliance on trust as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Recent conceptualizations of trends in the structure of U.S. industry have focused on the relative importance of markets, hierarchies, and hybrid intermediate forms. This paper advances the discussion by distinguishing three ideal-typical forms of organization and their corresponding coordination mechanisms: market/price, hierarchy/authority, and community/trust. Different institutions combine the three forms/mechanisms in different proportions. Economic and organizational theory have shown that, compared to trust, price and authority are relatively ineffective means of dealing with knowledge-based assets. Therefore, as knowledge becomes increasingly important in our economy, we should expect high-trust institutional forms to proliferate.A review of trends in employment relations, interdivisional relations, and interfirm relations finds evidence suggesting that the effect of growing knowledge-intensity may indeed be a trend toward greater reliance on trust. There is also reason to believe that the form of trust most effective in this context is a distinctively modern kind--"reflective trust"--as opposed to traditionalistic, "blind" trust. Such a trend to reflective trust appears to threaten the privileges of currently dominant social actors, and these actors' resistance, in combination with the complex interdependencies between price, authority, and trust mechanisms, imparts a halting character to the trend. But the momentum of this trend nevertheless appears to be self-reinforcing, which suggests that it may ultimately challenge the foundations of our capitalist form of society while simultaneously creating the foundations of a new, postcapitalist form.

1,265 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is argued that professional community is mutating from a Gemeinschaft, craft guild form, via Gesellschaft forms, toward a new, collaborative form, which is a difficult one, and the outcome is uncertain.
Abstract: This paper traces the main lines of evolution of the organization of professional work. The argument is illustrated with material on the case of doctors and hospitals. While market and hierarchy principles have become progressively more salient in professional work, we argue that, in parallel, the community principle has been growing more influential, too. We further argue that professional community is mutating from a Gemeinschaft, craft guild form, via Gesellschaft forms, toward a new, collaborative form. This evolution, however, is a difficult one, and the outcome is uncertain. We identify some implications for future research.

383 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors trace the main lines of evolution of professional work and argue that the professional community is mutating from a Gemeinschaft, craft guild form, via Gesellschaft forms, toward a new, collaborative form.
Abstract: This paper traces the main lines of evolution of the organization of professional work. The argument is illustrated with material on the case of doctors and hospitals. While market and hierarchy principles have become progressively more salient in professional work, we argue that, in parallel, the community principle has been growing more influential, too. We further argue that professional community is mutating from a Gemeinschaft, craft guild form, via Gesellschaft forms, toward a new, collaborative form. This evolution, however, is a difficult one, and the outcome is uncertain. We identify some implications for future research.

255 citations


Cites background from "Weber on legitimate norms and autho..."

  • ...…liberal professionals are universalistic in their orientation compared to the particularism of the guild craftsmen’s world; they are more functionally specific and demonstrate greater affective neutrality—although, like the guilds, they preserve something of Gemeinschaft’s collective orientation....

    [...]

  • ...Spencer (1970), Satow (1975), and Rothschild-Witt (1979) point out that, whereas three of the four types of social action and associated normative bases identified by Weber (affectual, traditional, purposive-rational) are associated with corresponding forms of authority and administration…...

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A review of trends in employment relations, interdivisional relations, and inter-firm relations finds evidence suggesting that the effect of growing knowledge-intensity may indeed be such a trend towards greater reliance on trust.
Abstract: Recent conceptualizations of trends in the structure of U.S. industry have focused on the relative importance of markets, hierarchies, and hybrid intermediate forms. This paper seeks to advance the discussion by distinguishing three ideal-typical forms of organization and their corresponding key coordination mechanism: market/price, hierarchy/authority, and community/trust. Different institutions combine the three forms/mechanisms in different proportions. Economic and organizational theory have shown that compared to trust, price and authority are relatively ineffective mechanisms for dealing with assets that are based on knowledge. As knowledge becomes increasingly important in our economy, we should therefore expect high-trust institutional forms to proliferate. A review of trends in employment relations, interdivisional relations, and inter-firm relations finds evidence suggesting that the effect of growing knowledge-intensity may indeed be such a trend towards greater reliance on trust. There is also reason to believe that the form of trust most effective in this context is of a distinctively modern kind - "reflective trust" - as opposed to a traditionalistic, blind trust. Such a trend to reflective trust appears to threaten the privileges of currently dominant social actors, and these actors' resistance, in combination with the complex interdependencies between price, authority, and trust mechanisms, imparts a halting character to the trend. But the momentum of this trend nevertheless appears to be self-reinforcing, which suggests that it may ultimately come to challenge the foundations of our capitalist form of society while simultaneously creating the foundations of a new, post-capitalist form.

198 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, Weber's writing on the topic of collegiality in economy and society is analyzed in order to reintegrate the concept with his other concepts of legitimate domination, status group closure, bureaucracy, and legal formalism.
Abstract: This article analyzes Weber's writing on the topic of collegiality in Economy and Society in order to reintegrate the concept of collegiality with his other concepts of legitimate domination, status group closure, bureaucracy, and legal formalism. An ideal-type of collegiate organization is identified, and the consequences of the emergence of collegial social structure of this form in professional contexts are examined. These arguments provide a critique of the predominant understandings of the relationship between professionalization and bureaucratization, in which professional ideology is conceived of as ethical commitment. The article calls for ar restoration of Weberian understandings of the rationalization of modern life as the outcome of a contest for domination between interest groups rather than as the institutionalization of transcendent normative structures.

181 citations

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01 Jan 1950

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