s were "a single cog in an ever-moving mechanism which prescribes to him an essentially fixed route of march" (Weber, Bureaucracy, 1911, in Gerth & Mills, 1946, pp. 228-229). The expert, because of his access to the facts and specialized knowledge, is in command. He says "the 'political master' finds himself in the position of the 'dilettante' who stands opposite the expert" (Weber, Bureaucracy, 1911, in Gerth & Mills, 1946, p. 232).
Even though he recognized the necessity of bureaucracy for the efficient operation of the state, Weber had serious misgivings about its tendencies and implications for society and the individual. McCrae says that Weber had a love-hate relationship with the bureaucratic nation-state (1974, p. 97).
Weber noted that an essential feature of bureaucracy was its impersonal impartiality, its ability to "discharge . . . business according to calculable rules and 'without regard for persons'" (Weber, Bureaucracy, 1911, in Gerth & Mills, 1946, p. 215). To be able to function in this fashion, the bure
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