Question

What are the characteristics of bureaucracies? How does a university reflect these characteristics?

How would a sociologist define deviance? How does the sociological definition of deviance differ from commonly held assumptions about deviance?

Answer 1

Bureaucracy is characterized by hierarchy, formal written rules, division of labor and task specialization. Bureaucrats normally help the politicians who form the government run the government. They also act as a bridge between people and the government. They implement the rules and regulations created by the ruling politicians and the orders of the courts.

In a university, we could clearly see a bureaucratic structure which has a hierarchy starting from the Chairman till the sweeper. All the universities have set of written rules to govern their campus effectively. There are different set of people specialized in teaching and non-teaching. In teaching, they have different subject matter experts.

Every society has their own unwritten norms that are governed by the respective cultures. When someone doesn’t follow these norms, they are considered as deviant behaviors. Different cultures have different punishments. Today, the term is widely used to mention any behavior that is not within the laws of the respective countries. It also considers the behaviors that doesn’t fit in any prescribed behaviors in many institutions such as college, school etc.