ABSTRACT
The government clerks of Balzac, Gogol's inspector and all Kafka's creatures are portraits of powers multifarious and malign, whilst Orwell's 1984 depicts the ultimate bureaucratically-controlled society. By the 1970s however, it was becoming clear that a new animal was evolving, what might be called the 'superbureaucracy', bigger, more complex than the earlier species, based more firmly on entrenched professional power and in some part in the public sphere. The new power elite seem to be of a rather more entrepreneurial character, who may be brought in initially for their technical skills, and then proceed to build an empire. The power elite that controls the information may also often control these 'black market' jobs. Because long term tenure is so difficult to get, most people accept the short-term assignments. Power is exercised or supported in many other ways than control of staff and budgets, positive or negative.
