Iron Cage

• Weber was concerned with the negative effects of over-rationalized systems- the “irrationality of rationality.”

• People as objects.

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Weber, as noted, feared the effects of alienation in an overrationalized society. He feared humans would becomes enclosed in an iron cage of rationality which would limit their ability literally to be human with free will. Instead a pseudo free will would encourage them to make pseudo choices between one form of rationalized enterprise or another. As I mentioned in an earlier slide in this presentation, the film Brazil illustrates the ultimate in a rationalized society- A nightmare world where even nightmares are controled and legitimated. You can read about the film at: ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/movies/brazil-faq

Some people have made choices to fight back against rationalization as symbolized by McDonalds. You can read about the exploits of the McLibel Two.

This link leads to a basic introduction to the McLibel case:

http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/index.html