According to Weber (Giddens, 1971, p131), “rationalisation of economic life characteristics of modern capitalism connects with irrational value-commitments”. To illustrate this argument, 'Pay Touch system' epitomizes the “irrational value-commitments” mentioned, as their tagline “because you are unique” shows irrationality in a rational system because something as personal as biometrics are being exploited and used as a mode of production for capitalism. The word “Unique” in the tagline is very controversial in such a system considering the ‘uniqueness’ of our individuality and private assets have been made attainable and exploited for their beneficial gain. Again, this reflects the “iron cage” that we are trapped in and represent the apogee in the absolute loss of independence and value in contemporary societies (Sung, 2007).
Furthermore, Weber (Giddens, 1971, p183) argues, “The spread of rationalisation can be indexed by the progressive 'dis-enchantment of the world'”. That is to say, bureaucracy has led to the loss of traditional values and is being supplanted by 'instrumental values' in which the system has formulated, desolating our creativity, personal developments and cultural aspects. This leads to what Weber terms as, 'dehumanisation'. To enumerate his argument, 'Pay Touch systems' recently introduced a new technology called 'Facebook Presence’. This system allows users to log on to Facebook using their biometrics after a one-time registration to “share their offline experiences online”, resulting in the loss of real life human interaction skills. In addition, 'value rationality', “an action which ultimate values act as a guide” (Morrison, 2006, p359) has been replaced with 'instrumental rationality', an action that takes ‘maximizing successful outcomes’ into account (Morrison, 2006, p360). The value of relationships between friends and family in reality does not uphold the same leverage as before. Moreover, we are led to believe that having more ‘friends’ online will benefit one's career in the future putting an emphasis on the number of friends rather than on the quality of relationships.
Not only we are trapped in a bureaucratic 'iron cage', but also a capitalism 'iron cage' where according to Weber (Lemert, 2004, p102), “man is dominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultimate purpose of his life”. With this in mind, Facebook Presence and what they claim, a 'real time social sharing experience' may seem efficient, appealing, and ideal. Be that as it may but in reality, companies using the system benefit by obtaining databases with personal details and utilising it as a marketing strategy for advertising purposes. Consequently, relationships between friends and family are being commoditized and dominated by a higher authority.
On the contrary, there are a few bases on bureaucracy and the 'disenchantment of the world' that Weber did not take into account on the modern society. Firstly, “Weber underestimated the capacity of humans to routinely resist or subvert, in many ways, formal bureaucratic rationalities, in terms both of their objectives and procedures” (Jenkins, 2000, p14). For instance, societies are given a choice on whether or not to adopt new technologies such as the 'Pay Touch and Facebook Presence systems' as some individuals may not be comfortable using their personal biometrics. This shows a form of resistance on the bureaucratic social order. Secondly, “formal-rational logics and processes can themselves be (re) enchanted from within, or become the vehicles of (re) enchantment” (Jenkins, 2000, p13). To demonstrate this argument, Facebook is becoming a platform for the process of (re) enchantment in terms of restoring cultural, heritage and traditional values. Different 'groups' can be generated to allow like-minded individuals to share their culture and traditions online and therefore, it can be suggested that the 'disenchantment' in the modern society may be going through a process of (re) enchantment.
To conclude, drawing on Weber's theories on bureaucracy and rationalization, Pay Touch is being put in place to moderate the action of society through biometrics of individuals to create a 'rationally ordered system'. Secondly, it reflects an 'irrational value-commitment' for their own power and monetary value gain. Besides that, 'Facebook Presence' epitomizes Weber's theory on 'dehumanisation' by using biometrics to 'share their offline experiences online’; this results in the loss of real life human interaction skills. Furthermore, ‘value rationality’ is replaced by ‘instrumental rationality’ as society puts more emphasis on the number of ‘friends’ on Facebook rather than the quality of their relationships. Lastly, considering the above points, Weber undermined human capabilities to oppose 'the bureaucratic machine' in many ways and Facebook is used as a platform for the process of (re) enchantment in the contemporary society. Therefore, given these points, the government rationalizes irregular aspects of society through 'Pay Touch and Facebook Presence systems’; both systems are used to double the potential bureaucratic mechanism to maintain a social order. Thus, trapping the society in a bureaucratic ‘Iron Cage’.
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