AP PSYCHOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -What is the iron law of oligarchy ? In bureaucracies, power tends to concentrate in the hands of a few people at the top. These people then use their position to promote their own interests over the interests of the organization.

Detailed explanation-2: -Bureaucratic inertia is the supposed inevitable tendency of bureaucratic organizations to perpetuate the established procedures and modes, even if they are counterproductive and/or diametrically opposed to established organizational goals.

Detailed explanation-3: -Sociologist Robert Michels called this tendency of organizations to become increasingly dominated by small groups of people the iron law of oligarchy.

Detailed explanation-4: -Iron Law of Oligarchy Sociologist Robert Michels theorized that bureaucracies tend to be run by a small group of people at the top, who he believed acted primarily out of self-interest, and who carefully controlled outsiders’ access to power and resources. He called this the Iron Law of Oligarchy.

Detailed explanation-5: -bureaucracy, specific form of organization defined by complexity, division of labour, permanence, professional management, hierarchical coordination and control, strict chain of command, and legal authority. It is distinguished from informal and collegial organizations.