Tag Archives | Pockets of Effectiveness

Proto-Bureaucracies

Monica Prasad

Sociological Science September 12, 2022
10.15195/v9.a15


The emergence of bureaucracy is often described as occurring at a particular historical period in a society, as a result of the pressures of war, the improvement of communication and transportation technologies, or societywide cultural changes. But recently many scholars have drawn attention to examples of meritocratic bureaucracies in societies otherwise organized according to patrimonial logics, what I call proto-bureaucracies. In this article I investigate one aspect of proto-bureaucracies that has not been examined in the literature: in a society characterized by patrimonial relations, the sudden introduction of meritocratic principles of recruitment may be interpreted as violating the principles of rewarding loyalty or kinship. This can fragment the political coalitions necessary to sustain a proto-bureaucracy. I argue through in-depth examination of one case, and secondary analysis of several others, that to manage the problem of exclusion successful proto-bureaucracies enact performative adherence to nonmeritocratic logics while protecting their meritocratic core. I argue that understanding contemporary proto-bureaucracies can help to develop an organizational strategy for strengthening governance and reducing corruption. The main lesson of proto-bureaucracies is that effective institutions generate exclusion, but meritocratic practices can be sustained if the exclusions they generate can be addressed in other ways.
Creative Commons LicenseThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Monica Prasad: Department of Sociology and Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University
E-mail: m-prasad@northwestern.edu

Acknowledgments: For comments on earlier versions of this article I am grateful to Sam Cohn, Erin McDonnell, Michael Roll, audience members at the American Sociological Virtual Engagement Event of 2020, and especially Dinsha Mistree, whose fascinating dissertation inspired this research and who has been an enthusiastic supporter throughout the project. I am also particularly grateful to the two faculty members at the new IIT who hosted me and facilitated my research.

  • Citation: Prasad, Monica. 2022. “Proto-Bureaucracies.” Sociological Science 9: 374-405.
  • Received: May 30, 2022
  • Accepted: July 12, 2022
  • Editors: Ari Adut, Gabriel Rossman
  • DOI: 10.15195/v9.a15


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