From formal rationality to the digital one: Sideeffects, ambivalences, and vulnerabilities

The article considers challenges for man, society and nature, which appeared under the new types of rationality and bring not only the desired achievements but also unintended consequences in the form of side-effects, ambivalences, and vulnerabilities that become more complex. Thus, formal rationality became a factor of transition from traditional societies to industrial ones, which facilitated the establishment of high standards of living, but at the same time had side-effects such as the iron cage of bureaucratization that made social relationships impersonal and without binding values. The growing formal rationality produced more complex side-effects such as legitimation crisis, colonization of the essential functions of peoples life-worlds, and dependence on legal and administrative bureaucracies. Formal rationality led to ambivalences: rationalization helped people to adapt to the dynamics of social life but also had irrational consequences - achievements in scientific knowledge and technologies advanced beyond moral limits. Formal rationality gave birth to society of normalization and biopower which generated the system of total control in the form of the Panapticon spreading its influence throughout the whole society. McDonaldization as a form of modern formal rationality worsened the situation by producing globally dehumanized nothings. Digital rationality creates objective conditions for complex vulnerabilities to society and nature in the form of normal accidents and collateral damage. The author argues that digital rationality acquires two basic types that are culturally determined: pragmatic type - hybrid rationality rooted in the principles of practical, formal, instrumental rationality and McDonaldization; substantive digital type with an emphasis on human needs and ontological safety. To minimize the vulnerabilities of the pragmatic digital rationality and to avoid the digital iron cage, the author suggests: rejection of radicalism and pragmatism in relation to digital technologies and artificial intelligence; humanistic modernization; eco-digital policy; interdisciplinary research of complex nonlinear vulnerabilities.

Introduction

The Introduction argues that social movements are an overlooked democratic institution. They are necessary, not only to address the concerns of those engaging in public interest, nor only for the ethical purpose of achieving more just conditions for all, but also for the health and survival of democracy, as such. Movements are what keep democracy from falling irrevocably into the pitfalls of oligarchy and the bureaucratic iron cage described by Max Weber, chiefly dehumanization, expropriation, and stagnation.

Iron Cage Birokrasi Pendidikan: Suatu Analisis Sosiologis

This article aims to describe the education bureaucracy as a tool to achieve the objectives of education through a qualitative approach to the literature study model. The data in this paper is sourced from relevant literature and the author's experience while active in educational activities. The results of this study indicate that the bureaucracy in the form of educational administration has changed to an iron cage that shackles the educational activity itself. The delivery of education loses its orientation and turns into ceremonial routines to meet the demands of the bureaucracy. Various training, capacity building, and teacher competence have been done, but they have not significantly changed the face of education. Iron cage bureaucracy makes teachers "appear" to be developing their competence, but in fact, they are meeting the demands of the bureaucracy. Education must come out of the iron cage bureaucracy by reducing all administrative aspects that bind the noble activities of education. Bureaucracy is a human creation, so bureaucracy should be subject to humans and not humans who are subject to the will of the bureaucracy. Artikel ini bertujuan mendeskripsikan birokrasi pendidikan sebagai alat untuk mencapai tujuan penyelenggaraan pendidikan melalui pendekatan kualitatif dengan model studi literatur. Data dalam tulisan ini bersumber dari literatur yang relevan dan pengalaman penulis selama aktif dalam aktivitas pendidikan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahwa birokrasi dalam bentuk administrasi pendidikan berubah menjadi “kerangkeng besi” yang membelenggu aktivitas pendidikan itu sendiri. Penyelenggaraan pendidikan kehilangan orientasinya dan berubah menjadi rutinitas seremonial demi memenuhi tuntutan birokrasi. Beragam pelatihan dan peningkatan kapasitas maupun kompetensi guru dalam dunia pendidikan telah dilakukan, namun belum mampu mengubah wajah pendidikan secara signifikan. Kontrol birokrasi membuat para guru “terlihat” sedang mengembangkan kompetensinya, padahal sejatinya sedang memenuhi tuntutan birokrasi. Untuk itu, pendidikan harus keluar dari “jerat birokrasi” dengan cara mereduksi semua aspek administratif yang membelenggu aktivitas mulia pendidikan. Birokrasi adalah hasil ciptaan manusia, maka seharusnya birokrasi tunduk pada manusia dan bukan manusia yang tunduk pada kehendak birokrasi.

PERANAN KHIDMAT SUMBER LUAR (OUTSOURCING) DALAM AMALAN MCDONALDISASI DI SEKTOR PERHOTELAN

McDonaldisasi ialah satu prinsip yang diadaptasi dari restoran makanan segera yang bertunjangkan kepada empat dimensi iaitu kecekapan, kebolehkiraan, kebolehramalan dan kawalan. Secara asasnya prinsip ini dilihat sangat cekap dan merupakan satu amalan rasional yang boleh dipraktikkan. Pengasas Teori McDonaldisasi iaitu George Ritzer, melihat prinsip tersebut juga wujud dalam pelbagai sektor, termasuklah dalam sektor perhotelan. Terdapat banyak ciri dalam sektor perhotelan yang membawa kepada aspek McDonaldisasi. Ini termasuklah penggunaan khidmat sumber luar atau outsourcing dalam operasi hotel. Kebanyakan hotel menggunakan khidmat sumber luar bagi tugas-tugas pembersihan bilik (housekeeping) dan penyediaan makanan dan minuman. Bagi dimensi kecekapan dan kebolehkiraan dalam Teori McDonaldisasi, khidmat sumber luar ini mampu menjadikan tugas pembersihan bilik dilakukan dengan lebih cekap, berkualiti dan menjimatkan kos. Malah penggunaan khidmat secara penyumber luaran tersebut dapat menghindar daripada isu McJobs serta isu kadar pusing ganti kerja yang tinggi dalam sektor perhotelan. Walau bagaimanapun, penggunaan khidmat sumber luar ini menyebabkan kurangnya kuasa kawalan terhadap operasi dan pekerja oleh pihak pengurusan hotel. Maka hal ini dilihat seakan bertentangan dengan dimensi kawalan dalam Teori McDonaldisasi yang memiliki aspek kawalan yang rigid terhadap operasi dan pekerja. Malah perkara tersebut menimbulkan persoalan tentang kerelevanan Teori McDonaldisasi dalam konteks sektor perhotelan. Justeru, makalah ini akan membahaskan pengamalan khidmat sumber luar terhadap Teori McDonaldisasi dalam konteks sektor perhotelan. Di samping itu, makalah ini juga akan membahaskan konsep velvet cage, rubber cage atau iron cage. Perbahasan ini diharapkan mampu menghuraikan Teori McDonaldisasi dalam konteks perhotelan dengan lebih jelas berdasarkan aspek penyumber luaran (outsourcing). McDonaldization is a principle adopted from fast-food restaurants that based on four dimensions namely efficiency, calculability, predictability, and control. This principle is seen as very efficient and is a rational practice that can be practiced. The founder of McDonaldization Theory, George Ritzer, sees the principle as existing in various sectors, including the hospitality sector. Many features in the hospitality sector lead to the McDonaldization aspect. This includes the use of outsourced services or outsourcing in hotel operations. Most hotels outsource housekeeping and food and beverage preparation tasks. For the dimensions of efficiency and calculability in McDonaldization Theory, this outsourcing service can make the task of cleaning the room done more efficiently, quality and cost-effective. The use of outsourced services can avoid the McJobs issue as well as the issue of high turnover rates in the hospitality sector. However, the use of these outsourcing services results in a lack of control over operations and employees by the hotel management. So this is seen as contrary to the dimension of control in McDonaldization Theory which has a rigid aspect of control over operations and employees. This raises questions about the relevance of McDonaldization Theory in the context of the hospitality sector. Thus, this paper will discuss the practice of outsourcing services to McDonaldization Theory in the context of the hospitality sector. In addition, this paper will also discuss the concept of velvet cage, rubber cage or iron cage. This debate is expected to be able to describe the McDonaldization Theory in the context of the hospitality industry more clearly based on the aspect of outsourcing.

Beyond Weber and Kafka: Conceptualizing a Critical Realist Model of Bureaucracy

Max Weber and Franz Kafka are seminal writers on bureaucracy and administration. While Weber suggests the technical superiority of a bureaucratic “iron cage,” Kafka speaks from within that cage, seeing its repressive rationality as being confounded by recalcitrant citizens searching for freedom. However, if individuals are embedded in a bureaucracy that limits the parameters of actions from which they can choose, how could they ever defy structural control? Articulating the conditions for human liberty, this article uses critical realism to reveal the potential emancipatory nature of bureaucracy as a way out of Kafka’s powerlessness and Weber’s iron cage via citizen engagement.