Bureaucracy: Positions and Persons

BUREAUCRACY: POSITIONS AND PERSONS examines the bureaucratic phenomenon in the Indian setting. Dr. Narendra K. Singhi has carried out a systematic investigation among both governmental and non-governmental bureaucrats with a view to testing the validity of a number of theoretical propositions emanating from the experience of the West. The study compares the Indian reality against the theoretical backdrop provided by Max Weber. Dr. Singhi has focussed on the bureaucrats. He has analysed their social background, role-structure, subcultures, patterns of interactions, value orientations, and their personality. Bureaucrats included in the study represent various levels of the hierarchy, and different job specialisations. It is the conclusion of the author that the newly emerged goals have created a sort of structural lag. Such a lag is found to be dysfunctional. Alien institutions associated with bureaucracy have been culturally screened, and several patterns of adaptation are noticeable, though not yet institutionalised. The book will interest students of sociology, of public administration, and of management. The book is theoretically rich and methodologically sound. Abundance of empirical evidence makes it an interesting reading.