Bureaucracy and the Men's Story Project

Abstract: Six features common to bureaucratic institutions remove the personalistic elements of human interaction.  These ensure that the bureaucrat knows his place in the system.  As long as the bureaucrat knows his place, he can treat his office as a vocation (W198).  None of this can come into being, however, without four preconditions.  The Men's Story Project (MSP) is not a rational bureaucracy.  Ultimately, the flexibility that results from Weber's patrimonial qualities is essential to the maintenance of the project while it is in its starting stages.

Durkheim, Solidarity, and the Men’s Story Project

Abstract: Mechanical and organic solidarity differ from one another in five fundamental ways: how solidarity binds people, individuals' links to society, the relative importance of the collective versus individual consciousness, the dominant form of law, and the role of the state. The Men's Story Project came together through mechanical solidarity and became effective through organic solidarity. The challenge for the future is creating and increasing solidarity with new project members and potential audiences. This change will by necessity not be a revolution; it will happen one step at a time.

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