LEADER 04709nam 2200697Ia 450 001 9910779902703321 005 20211001032736.0 010 $a9786612129391 010 $a1-4008-2508-3 010 $a1-282-12939-2 010 $a1-4008-1453-7 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400825080 035 $a(CKB)111056486507882 035 $a(EBL)445527 035 $a(OCoLC)437140490 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000341156 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11284314 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000341156 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10389846 035 $a(PQKB)11723446 035 $a(OCoLC)52252985 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse36122 035 $a(DE-B1597)446423 035 $a(OCoLC)979905155 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400825080 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL445527 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10284157 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL212939 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC445527 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111056486507882 100 $a20011016d2002 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurcn||||||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aOrganizing America$b[electronic resource] $ewealth, power, and the origins of corporate capitalism /$fCharles Perrow 205 $aCourse Book 210 $aPrinceton, NJ $cPrinceton University Press$dc2002 215 $a1 online resource (272 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-691-12315-2 311 0 $a0-691-08954-X 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [243]-249) and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tAcknowledgments --$tChapter 1. Introduction --$tChapter 2. Preparing the Ground --$tChapter 3. Toward Hierarchy: The Mills of Manayunk --$tChapter 4. Toward Hierarchy and Networks --$tChapter 5. Railroads, the Second Big Business --$tChapter 6. The Organizational Imprinting --$tChapter 7. Summary and Conclusions --$tAppendix. Alternative Theories Where Organizations Are the Dependent Variable --$tNotes --$tBibliography --$tIndex 330 $aAmerican society today is shaped not nearly as much by vast open spaces as it is by vast, bureaucratic organizations. Over half the working population toils away at enterprises with 500 or more employees--up from zero percent in 1800. Is this institutional immensity the logical outcome of technological forces in an all-efficient market, as some have argued? In this book, the first organizational history of nineteenth-century America, Yale sociologist Charles Perrow says no. He shows that there was nothing inevitable about the surge in corporate size and power by century's end. Critics railed against the nationalizing of the economy, against corporations' monopoly powers, political subversion, environmental destruction, and "wage slavery." How did a nation committed to individual freedom, family firms, public goods, and decentralized power become transformed in one century? Bountiful resources, a mass market, and the industrial revolution gave entrepreneurs broad scope. In Europe, the state and the church kept private organizations small and required consideration of the public good. In America, the courts and business-steeped legislators removed regulatory constraints over the century, centralizing industry and privatizing the railroads. Despite resistance, the corporate form became the model for the next century. Bureaucratic structure spread to government and the nonprofits. Writing in the tradition of Max Weber, Perrow concludes that the driving force of our history is not technology, politics, or culture, but large, bureaucratic organizations. Perrow, the author of award-winning books on organizations, employs his witty, trenchant, and graceful style here to maximum effect. Colorful vignettes abound: today's headlines echo past battles for unchecked organizational freedom; socially responsible alternatives that were tried are explored along with the historical contingencies that sent us down one road rather than another. No other book takes the role of organizations in America's development as seriously. The resultant insights presage a new historical genre. 606 $aOrganizational behavior$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aBig business$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 606 $aSocial change$zUnited States$xHistory$y19th century 615 0$aOrganizational behavior$xHistory 615 0$aBig business$xHistory 615 0$aSocial change$xHistory 676 $a302.35 700 $aPerrow$b Charles$0106600 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910779902703321 996 $aOrganizing America$93756530 997 $aUNINA