Rational actors are helpless before irrational bureaucratic power.
Evidence
In the valley of the blind, the one-eyed man was king. In the rational world of modern bureaucracy, the irrational adventurer is the dictator. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 387
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Weber’s iron cage and the limits of Zweckrationalität when the ends themselves are irrational — relevant to Islamophobia readings on bureaucratic exclusion. — connects to: Rationality of the actor and of the action can diverge, making reason self-destructive. — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 423; Political subjection commits citizens to acts they cannot foresee or control
Related
- Rationality itself can be weaponized against the rational agent (similarity 0.81)
- Rationality of the actor and of the action can diverge, making reason self-destructive. (similarity 0.81)
- Rational bureaucracy rendered murder morally neutral in perpetrators’ eyes. (similarity 0.80)
- Rational choices today can make rational choices tomorrow impossible. (similarity 0.79)
Broader Connections
- Rationality of the actor and of the action can diverge, making reason self-destructive.
#expands(0.82) — Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust, 423 - Political subjection commits citizens to acts they cannot foresee or control
#qualifies(0.75)