Bureaucracy and Public Communication

Abstract

Bureaucracy is one of the most striking characteristics of contemporary society. In the course of a single century bureaucracy has developed from hierarchically organized administrative government into one of the most outstanding traits of almost all organizations of society. It is to be found not only in state administration but also in all centralized economic, political, and scientific institutions, in all sorts of social and political organizations, labor unions, and even in mass entertainment and sports organizations. In short, almost no form of the mass organization of society has been able to withstand a bureaucratic trend.

The Serbocroat word javnost, here translated as ‘public communication,’ has two basic meanings. First, it means openness in political life, as exemplified by freedom of the press, open parliamentary sessions, etc. Second, it means ‘the public’ — the institutions that create and represent public opinion. The meaning are linked by a common reference to the press. With four exceptions, where the author clearly refers to the latter meaning of the term, we have consistently rendered javnost as ‘public communication. ’ — Tr.