A Bureaucracy as a Struggle for Rationality

An Effect of Public Relations

Abstract

It is often said that bureaucratic administraton is to be controlled by democratic processes. While attempting to adhere to these constraints, every administration has a section of public relations to reflect the needs and opinions of the public it is to serve. There are, however, ‘dilemmas of bureaucratic administration’ in that it is impossible to accept every opinion and satisfy every need, because of the very limits of bureaucratic functions. The purpose of this paper is to clarify such a dilemma as concrete affairs by interviews with staff members working in sections of bureaucratic offices. We will observe the logic of bureaucratic ‘conversations’ constructed continually in ordinary works.