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A
concept Karl Mannheim expropriated from Max Weber (Weber's term was "formal
rationality") and renamed it. Functional rationality prevails in an organization of
human activities in which the thought, knowledge, and reflection of the participants are
virtually unnecessary; men become part of a mechanical process in which each is assigned a
functional position and role. Their purposes, wishes, and values
become irrelevant and superfluous in an eminently "rational" process. What they
forfeit in creativity and initiative is gained by the organization as a whole and
contributes, presumably, to its greater "efficiency." Bureaucratic organizations
strive for maximum functional rationality. - From Irving M. Zeitlin, Ideology
and the Development of Sociological Theory (Englewood Cliffs NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
1968), pp. 311-312.
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