The Rationality of Village Bureaucracy in Max Weber Perspective on Industrial Communities in Prosperous Villages Bone Bolango Regency

Abstract

This study addresses the challenges of village bureaucracy shifting towards formal rationality within industrial communities, a phenomenon that often triggers a tension between administrative rigidity and local social dynamics. The study aims to analyze the practice of village governance through Max Weber's perspective, focusing on Desa Sejahtera, Bone Bolango Regency, to understand how formal rationality operates and impacts decision-making, social relations, and apparatus roles. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, data were gathered through in-depth interviews with the Village Head and Secretary, alongside village document analysis, and processed using the Miles and Huberman model. The findings reveal that village governance is predominantly driven by formal rationality, characterized by strict adherence to written rules, hierarchical structures, bureaucratic division of labor, and meritocracy. Although this bureaucratic rationality ensures institutional order and administrative accountability, it restricts apparatus discretion, reduces substantive public participation, and potentially creates a rational "iron cage." In conclusion, while the bureaucracy in Desa Sejahtera is administratively rational, it remains substantively constrained in responding to industrial community dynamics, underscoring the need for a balanced approach between procedural efficiency and social responsiveness.