Structural Sources of Overconformity
Such inadequacies in orientation which
involve trained incapacity clearly derive &om
structural sour@s. The process may bs briefly
recapitulated. (l) An effective bureaucracy
demands reliability of response and strict
devotion to regulations. (2) Such devotion to
the rules leads to their transformation into
absolutes; they are no loirger conceivd as
relative to a set of purposes. (3) This interferes
with ready adaptation under special
conditions not clearly envisaged by those
who drew up the general rules. (4) Thus,
the very elements which conduce toward
efficiency in general produce inefficiency
in specific instances. Full realization of the
is seldom attained byme,mbers of
the group who have not divorced themsclves
from the meanings which the rules haye for
them. These rules in time become synbolic
in cast, rather than strictly utilitarian,