Philipp Jakobs is a research assistant at the Chair of Cultural Sociology at the University of Bonn, where he is doing his doctorate on economic organizations from a historical-sociological perspective.
In today's organizational sociology, organizations are usually regarded as late achievements of modernity in the history of mankind. Max Weber is repeatedly cited as the supposed guarantor of this thesis. But neither his type of "bureaucratic rule" nor his concept of "rational work organization" - although both are tailored to modern conditions - contain, on closer inspection, compelling arguments for a principled limitation of organizations as such to modernity.
In today's organizational sociology, organizations are usually regarded as late achievements of modernity in the history of mankind. Max Weber is repeatedly cited as the supposed guarantor of this thesis. But neither his type of "bureaucratic rule" nor his concept of "rational work organization" - although both are tailored to modern conditions - contain, on closer inspection, compelling arguments for a principled limitation of organizations as such to modernity.