{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T23:10:01Z","timestamp":1777936201757,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":68,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2006,5,1]],"date-time":"2006-05-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1146441600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Organization"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,5]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Modern management theory often forgets more than it remembers. \u2018What's new?\u2019 is the refrain. Yet, we suggest, there is much that we should already know from which we might appropriately learn, \u2018Lest we forget\u2019. The current paper takes its departure from two points of remembrance that bear on the sustained assaults on bureaucracy that have been unleashed by the critiques of recent years. These critiques include the new public management literature as well as its inspiration in the new literature of cultural entrepreneurialism. Both promise to dissolve bureaucracy's iron cage. We explain, using the classical political themes of oligarchy, democracy, and the production of elite power, why we should consider such transubstantiation alchemical by confronting contemporary discussions with the wisdom of an earlier, shrewder knowledge, whose insights we need to recall to understand the complexity of the hybridizations between supposedly opposite models of organizations.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/1350508406063481","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2006,4,20]],"date-time":"2006-04-20T15:41:10Z","timestamp":1145547670000},"page":"319-343","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":109,"title":["Dissolving the Iron Cages? Tocqueville, Michels, Bureaucracy and the                 Perpetuation of Elite Power"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"David","family":"Courpasson","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"EM LYON, Ecully, France"}]},{"given":"Stewart","family":"Clegg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Technology, Sydney, Australia"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2006,5,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"atypb1","volume-title":"Creating the Corporate Future","author":"Ackoff, Russell L.","year":"1981"},{"key":"atypb2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195087277.001.0001","volume-title":"The Democratic Corporation","author":"Ackoff, Russell L.","year":"1994"},{"key":"atypb3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780195123876.001.0001","volume-title":"Re-Creating the Corporation","author":"Ackoff, Russell L.","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.12.2.215.10117"},{"key":"atypb5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393986"},{"key":"atypb6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3069402"},{"key":"atypb7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4135\/9781452220383","volume-title":"The Discipline of Teamwork: Participation and Concertive Control","author":"Barker, James R.","year":"1999"},{"key":"atypb8","volume-title":"The Dynamics of Bureaucracy","author":"Blau, Peter M.","year":"1955"},{"key":"atypb9","volume-title":"Bureaucracy in Modern Society","author":"Blau, Peter M.","year":"1971","edition":"2"},{"key":"atypb10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393150"},{"key":"atypb11","volume-title":"The Management of Innovation","author":"Burns, Tom","year":"1961"},{"key":"atypb12","volume-title":"The Rise of the Network Society (The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume 1)","author":"Castells, Manuel","year":"1996"},{"key":"atypb13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/3069393"},{"key":"atypb14","volume-title":"Modern Organizations: Organization Studies in the Post-Modern World","author":"Clegg, Stewart R.","year":"1990"},{"key":"atypb15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-6486.2004.00443.x"},{"key":"atypb16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0170840600211001"},{"key":"atypb17","volume-title":"Organization Science Winter Conference","author":"Courpasson, David"},{"key":"atypb18","volume-title":"Soft Constraint. Liberal Organizations and Domination","author":"Courpasson, David","year":"2006"},{"key":"atypb19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/01708406030248001"},{"key":"atypb20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1350508404039656"},{"key":"atypb21","volume-title":"The Bureaucratic Phenomenon","author":"Crozier, Michel","year":"1964"},{"key":"atypb22","volume-title":"Polyarchy. Participation and Opposition","author":"Dahl, Robert A.","year":"1971"},{"key":"atypb23","first-page":"57","volume-title":"Handbook of Organization Studies","author":"Donaldson, L.","year":"1996"},{"key":"atypb24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/135050849400100114"},{"key":"atypb25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446217580","volume-title":"In Praise of Bureaucracy. Weber, Organization, Ethics","author":"du Gay, Paul","year":"2000"},{"key":"atypb26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/220364"},{"key":"atypb27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/001041406900200301"},{"key":"atypb28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393060"},{"key":"atypb29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780198289029.001.0001"},{"key":"atypb30","volume-title":"Patterns of Industrial Bureaucracy","author":"Gouldner, Alvin W.","year":"1954"},{"key":"atypb31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1951818"},{"key":"atypb32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/223508"},{"key":"atypb33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"64","DOI":"10.1093\/oso\/9780198293187.003.0003","volume-title":"Trust Within and Between Organizations","author":"Hardy, Cynthia","year":"1998"},{"key":"atypb34","volume-title":"The Post-Bureaucratic Organization: New Perspectives on Organizational Change","author":"Heckscher, Charles","year":"1994"},{"key":"atypb35","first-page":"1","volume-title":"The Post-Bureaucratic Organization. New Perspectives on Organizational Change","author":"Heckscher, Charles","year":"1994"},{"key":"atypb36","volume-title":"The Post-Bureaucratic Organization. New Perspectives on Organizational Change","author":"Heckscher, Charles","year":"1994"},{"key":"atypb37","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-6486.00312"},{"key":"atypb38","volume-title":"Men and Women of the Corporation","author":"Kanter, Rosabeth M.","year":"1977"},{"key":"atypb39","volume-title":"Political Science and Political Theory","author":"Landau, Martin","year":"1972"},{"key":"atypb40","volume-title":"The Collegial Phenomenon","author":"Lazega, Emmanuel","year":"2000"},{"key":"atypb41","volume-title":"Organizations","author":"March, James G.","year":"1958"},{"key":"atypb42","volume-title":"The Nature and Types of Sociological Theory","author":"Martindale, Don","year":"1960"},{"key":"atypb43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2570634"},{"key":"atypb44","volume-title":"Political Parties: A Sociological Study of the Oligarchical Tendencies of Modern Democracy","author":"Michels, Robert","year":"1915"},{"key":"atypb45","volume-title":"The Power Elite","author":"Mills, C. Wright","year":"1956"},{"key":"atypb46","volume-title":"The Age of Bureaucracy: Perspectives on the Political Sociology of Max Weber","author":"Mommsen, Wolfgang J.","year":"1974"},{"key":"atypb47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2666961"},{"key":"atypb48","volume-title":"Banishing Bureaucracy: Five Strategies for Reinventing Government","author":"Osborne, David","year":"1997"},{"key":"atypb49","volume-title":"Reinventing Government","author":"Osborne, David","year":"1992"},{"key":"atypb50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1287\/orsc.14.5.574.16762"},{"key":"atypb51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/41165267"},{"key":"atypb52","volume-title":"Organizational Structure in its Context: The Aston Programme 1","author":"Pugh, Derek S.","year":"1976"},{"key":"atypb53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/h0023853"},{"key":"atypb54","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0170840601222002"},{"key":"atypb55","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0170840699205005"},{"key":"atypb56","volume-title":"The Cooperative Workplace: Potentials and Dilemmas of Organizational Democracy and Participation","author":"Rothschild, Joyce","year":"1986"},{"key":"atypb57","first-page":"54","volume":"44","author":"Rotschild-Whitt, Joyce","year":"1979","journal-title":"American Sociological Review"},{"key":"atypb58","volume-title":"The Phenomenology of the Social World","author":"Sch \u00f6utz, Alfred","year":"1967"},{"key":"atypb59","volume-title":"TVA and the Grass Roots","author":"Selznick, Philip","year":"1949"},{"key":"atypb60","volume-title":"Leadership in Administration","author":"Selznick, Philip","year":"1957"},{"key":"atypb61","volume-title":"Democracy in America, trans","author":"Tocqueville, Alexis de","year":"1992"},{"issue":"6","key":"atypb62","first-page":"791","volume":"24","author":"Udy, S. Jr.","year":"1959","journal-title":"Administrative Science Quarterly"},{"key":"atypb63","volume-title":"The Inner Circle","author":"Useem, Michael","year":"1984"},{"key":"atypb64","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-954X.1993.tb02954.x"},{"key":"atypb65","volume-title":"Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, in Roth Guenther and Claus Wittich (eds)","author":"Weber, Max","year":"1968"},{"key":"atypb66","volume-title":"Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology","author":"Weber, Max","year":"1978"},{"key":"atypb67","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2393700"},{"key":"atypb68","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1086\/223790"}],"container-title":["Organization"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1350508406063481","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/1350508406063481","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T03:22:39Z","timestamp":1777692159000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/10.1177\/1350508406063481"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2006,5]]},"references-count":68,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2006,5]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1177\/1350508406063481"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/1350508406063481","relation":{},"ISSN":["1350-5084","1461-7323"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1350-5084","type":"print"},{"value":"1461-7323","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2006,5]]}}}