wrote that bureaucracies are goal-oriented organizations that are based on rational principles that are used to efficiently reach their goals. However, Weber also recognizes that there are constraints within the "iron cage" of such a bureaucratic system. Negative effects of bureaucracies Bureaucracies concentrate large amounts of power in a small number of people and are generally unregulated. Weber believed that those who control these organizations control the quality of our lives as well. Bureaucracies tend to generate oligarchy; which is where a few officials are the political and economic power. According to Weber, because bureaucracy is a form of organization superior to all others, further bureaucratization and rationalization may be an inescapable fate. Iron cage of bureaucracy Because of these aforementioned reasons, there will be an evolution of an iron cage, which will be a technically ordered, rigid, dehumanized society. The iron cage is the one set of rules and laws that we are all subjected and must adhere to. Bureaucracy puts us in an iron cage, which limits individual human freedom and potential instead of a "technological utopia" that should set us free. It is the way of the institution, where we do not have a choice anymore. Once capitalism came about, it was like a machine that you were being pulled into without an alternative option. Laws of bureaucracies include the following: The official is subject to authority only with respect to their official obligation Organized in a clearly defined hierarchy of offices Each office has a clearly defined sphere of competence The official has a free contractual relationship; free selection Officials are selected through technical qualification The official is paid by fixed salaries The office is the primary occupation of the official Promotion is based on an achievement which is granted by the judgment of superiors The official works entirely separated from ownership of the means of administration The official is subject to strict and systematic discipline within the office Costs of bureaucracies "Rational calculation ... reduces every worker to a cog in this bureaucratic machine and, seeing himself in this light, he will merely ask how to transform himself... to a bigger cog... The passion for bureaucratization at this meeting drives us to despair." Loss of individuality; labor is now being sold to someone who is in control, instead of individuals being artisans and craftsmen and benefiting from their own labor. Loss of autonomy; others are