ABSTRACT

The previous chapter sought to explain why modern citizens acquired their license to individuate themselves as consumers; but in focusing upon this facet of the modern citizen it overlooked the fact that we also treat ourselves like anonymous cogs in a large machine. It is, perhaps, remarkable that these virtually opposite images co-exist in the consumer’s imagination. However, where solipsism is comparatively recent, centralised management systems have been around for thousands of years. Today they are described as ‘bureaucratic’, a French word that derives from the baize that covers a writing desk. In a letter of July 1, 1764, the French Baron de Grimm declared: ‘We are obsessed by the idea of regulation, and our Masters of Requests refuse to understand that there is an infinity of things in a great state with which a government should not concern itself.’ Although in recent times bureaucracy began its rise in the 18th and 19th century, by the 20th century it was continuing to define new boundaries. Today, we have to contend with increasingly devious and intrusive styles of management from the major banks, utility companies and other commercial organisations. These organisations are sometimes, but not always, as conspicuously ‘bureaucratic’ as those described in Kafka’s stories, although their desire for control may be similar. The culture of ‘Quality Assurance’ exemplifies it. While its advocates may fairly show that it can deliver something of what its name would suggest, bureaucracy seeks to satisfy the internal conditions for consistency, rather than confronting the realities of its external world. This is why bureaucracy is solipsistic, but where solipsists see no reason to change anything unless it threatens their interior equilibrium, bureaucrats want to homogenise everything in accordance with a pretext or plan.