Bureaucratic Promotion Criteria

It appears to be common practice among those who cite Weber's remarks concerning seniority and achievement to disregard the statement promotion is dependent on the judgment of superiors (Blau, 1956: 30; Marsh, 1961: 548; Blau and Scott, 1962: 33; Beattie and Spencer, 1971: 472). Our feeling is that this is a mistake, for the statement expresses not a residual observation but a central element of Weber's theory of bureaucratic motivation and obedience. As we shall suggest later, the crucial distinction is not so much between seniority and achievement, but between fixed criteria and the subjective judgments of superiors.