QUESTION 8
GS4
10 marks
Max Weber said it is not wise to apply to public administration the same moral and ethical norms applied to matters of personal conscience, and that State bureaucracy may possess its own independent bureaucratic morality. Critically analyse this statement.
WRITE IN
7 min
150 words
What the examiner wants
Critically analyse Weber's view that public administration needs its own bureaucratic morality.
Critically analyseBreak it into parts, test each against evidence, and give a reasoned verdict.
Demand-wise check
- 1Weber's view: impersonality, rule-following, hierarchy; ethics of responsibility over personal conviction≈30 words
- 2Merit: neutrality, predictability, avoidance of personal bias≈30 words
- 3Criticism: blind obedience can lead to wrongs (Nazi bureaucracy), need for conscience, constitutional morality, whistleblowing≈30 words
- 4Balance: bureaucratic rules within constitutional and moral limits≈30 words
Open in about 20 words and close in about 20.
Answer plan
Weber's viewMeritsCriticismBalanced conclusion
Where marks usually go
- Only agreeing or disagreeing
- No example like Nazi bureaucracy (Eichmann) or Emergency-era excesses
Draw this
- Spectrum: personal conscience ↔ organisational duty
Value addition
- ThinkerWeber's 'Politics as a Vocation' (1919) contrasts ethics of conviction and ethics of responsibility.Weber, 1919
- ThinkerHannah Arendt's 'banality of evil' (Eichmann in Jerusalem, 1963) warns against bureaucratic obedience.Arendt, 1963
Mapped topper copies
Reviewed public-source references related to this PYQ. Same-syllabus references are labelled separately.
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Vidushi Singh · AIR 13 · Page 5 ↗Same syllabus reference
- G Sanjana · AIR 55 · Page 3 ↗Same syllabus reference
- Shakti Dubey · AIR 1 · Page 23 ↗Same syllabus reference
Links open original public sources. MainsBuddy does not host these answer sheets.
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