contrabureaucratic

English

Etymology

Coined by Joyce Rothschild-Whitt in 1979, from contra- +‎ bureaucratic.

Adjective

contrabureaucratic (not comparable)

1. (sociology, organisational theory) Self-consciously rejecting bureaucracy and pursuing alternative modes of organisation.
   • 1979, Joyce Rothschild-Whitt, “The Collectivist Organization: An Alternative to Rational-Bureaucratic Models”, in American Sociological Review‎^[1], volume 44, number 4, page 509:

     The emergence of these contrabureaucratic organizations calls for a new model of organization that can encompass their alternative practices and aspirations.

   • 2006, Patricia S. Parker, “Toward an Inclusive Framework for Envisioning Race, Gender, and Leadership”, in Margaret Foegen Karsten, editor, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Workplace: Issues and Challenges for Today's Organizations, Volume 1: Management, Gender, and Ethnicity in the United States‎^[2], Praeger, page 42:

     First are contrabureaucratic structures that resist organization that promotes 'the employer viewpoint,' such as universalism.

   • 2019, Armine Ishkanian, Anita Peña Saavedra, “The politics and practices of intersectional prefiguration in social movements: The case of Sisters Uncut”, in The Sociological Review‎^[3], volume 67, number 5, pages 987–8:

     While not using the term prefiguration, Rothschild-Whitt’s study of collectivist organisations was one of the first to theorise the organisational dynamics and structural commonalities of what she called ‘contrabureaucratic’ organisations, highlighting their ‘alternative practices and aspirations’...