--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: The bureaucratic manager, the consuming…" description: "\"The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the therapist, the protester and their numerous kindred occupy almost all the available culturally re..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg" --- # The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the… ![“The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the therapist, the protester and their numerous kindred occupy almost all the available culturally recognizable roles, the notions of the expertise of the few and of the moral agency of everyone are the presuppositions of the dramas which those…” quote by Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg) > “The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the therapist, the protester and their numerous kindred occupy almost all the available culturally recognizable roles, the notions of the expertise of the few and of the moral agency of everyone are the presuppositions of the dramas which those characters enact. To cry out that the emperor had no clothes on was at least to pick on one man only to the amusement of everyone else; to declare that almost everyone is dressed in rags is much less likely to be popular.” [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote critiques how society assigns fixed roles and expertise, making it easy to mock a single outlier but hard to challenge widespread injustice. **In simple terms:** Society labels roles, protecting elites and blaming individuals. Key Takeaway Question systemic power, not just individuals. Themes social critique power structures morality identity culture Mood critical reflective Type analytical philosophical When to use this quote - political activism - organizational reform - media analysis - education curricula Key Concepts role theory ethical relativism social constructionism Questions to Reflect On - How do we recognize collective oppression? - What can individuals do to disrupt entrenched roles? A Different Perspective It may overlook individual agency and the complexity of moral responsibility. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Amusement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/amusement/) [Character](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/character/) [Clothes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/clothes/) [Cry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cry/) [Drama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drama/) [Emperor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/emperor/) [Expertise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/expertise/) [Kindred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/kindred/) [Management](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/management/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Moral](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moral/) [Therapists](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/therapists/) ## Related quotes > [My first company, Pure Software, was exciting and innovative in the first few years and bureaucratic and painful in the last few before it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/reed-hastings/my-first-company-pure-software-was-exciting-and-innovative-in-the/) [Reed Hastings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/reed-hastings/) > [“First, since so much time is spent by people in bureaus working with paper, they may come to set too much store by it.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/first-since-so-much-time-is-spent-by-people-in-bureaus-working-with/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [OFSTED has made large cuts in the paperwork which schools are asked to provide and further steps to reduce the bureaucratic burden will be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/estelle-morris/ofsted-has-made-large-cuts-in-the-paperwork-which-schools-are-asked/) [Estelle Morris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/estelle-morris/) > [The bureaucratic method of building an integrated Europe has exhausted its potential.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-soros/the-bureaucratic-method-of-building-an-integrated-europe-has/) [George Soros](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-soros/) > [In the bureaucratic machine of socialism the way toward promotion is not achievement but the favor of the superiors.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwig-von-mises/in-the-bureaucratic-machine-of-socialism-the-way-toward-promotion-is/) [Ludwig von Mises](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwig-von-mises/) > [We need to call what is happening out of Washington, D.C., what it is: Bureaucratic terrorism: If you want a list of stories, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matt-shea/we-need-to-call-what-is-happening-out-of-washington-d-c-what-it-is/) [Matt Shea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matt-shea/) > [The prison industrial complex, to put it in its crassest term, is a system of industrial mass incarceration. So there's what you call bureaucratic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eugene-jarecki/the-prison-industrial-complex-to-put-it-in-its-crassest-term-is-a/) [Eugene Jarecki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eugene-jarecki/) > [ \[The Clinton health care initiative is\] washed-over old-time bureaucratic liberalism, or centralized bureaucratic socialism. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/newt-gingrich/the-clinton-health-care-initiative-is-washed-over-old-time/) [Newt Gingrich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/newt-gingrich/) > [My work is made on lines similar to those of a film production. A lot of my work is kind of bureaucratic, endlessly phoning…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/my-work-is-made-on-lines-similar-to-those-of-a-film-production-a-lot/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“It is horrible to think that the world could one day be filled with nothing but those little cogs, little men clinging to little…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/max-weber/it-is-horrible-to-think-that-the-world-could-one-day-be-filled-with/) [Max Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/max-weber/) > [In 1966, NASA took over in space, and it has been a bureaucratic mess ever since.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-yeager/in-1966-nasa-took-over-in-space-and-it-has-been-a-bureaucratic-mess/) [Chuck Yeager](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-yeager/) > [For political and bureaucratic reasons, governments at all levels are telling far less to the public than to insiders about how to prepare for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/barton-gellman/for-political-and-bureaucratic-reasons-governments-at-all-levels-are/) [Barton Gellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/barton-gellman/) > [The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-conquest/the-behavior-of-any-bureaucratic-organization-can-best-be-understood/) [Robert Conquest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-conquest/) > [France has not only built a bureaucratic barrier against American culture, it has constructed a notorious intellectual case against it as well. The French…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tyler-cowen/france-has-not-only-built-a-bureaucratic-barrier-against-american/) [Tyler Cowen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tyler-cowen/) > [“And the so-called 'political process' is a fraud: Our elected officials, like our bureaucratic functionaries, like even our judges, are largely the indentured servants…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-abbey/and-the-so-called-political-process-is-a-fraud-our-elected-officials/) [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## More by Alasdair MacIntyre > [Modern politics is civil war carried on by other means.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/modern-politics-is-civil-war-carried-on-by-other-means/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“the characterization of actions allegedly prior to any narrative form being imposed upon them will always turn out to be the presentation of what…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-characterization-of-actions-allegedly-prior-to-any-narrative-form/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“Indeed, one of the functions of the structures of normality is that by making it unnecessary for almost everybody almost all the time to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/indeed-one-of-the-functions-of-the-structures-of-normality-is-that-by/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Facts, like telescopes and wigs for gentlemen, were a seventeenth century invention.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/facts-like-telescopes-and-wigs-for-gentlemen-were-a-seventeenth/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [The good life for man is the life spent in seeking for the good life for man, and the virtues necessary for the seeking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-good-life-for-man-is-the-life-spent-in-seeking-for-the-good-life/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Those emotive theorists who said that the function of moral utterance was to evince emotion would... have been correct if they had substituted the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/those-emotive-theorists-who-said-that-the-function-of-moral-utterance/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Charles II once invited the members of the Royal Society to explain to him why a dead fish weighs more than the same fish…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/charles-ii-once-invited-the-members-of-the-royal-society-to-explain/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Morality which is no particular socity's morality is to be found nowhere.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/morality-which-is-no-particular-socity-s-morality-is-to-be-found/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“The true genre of the life is neither hagiography nor saga, but tragedy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-true-genre-of-the-life-is-neither-hagiography-nor-saga-but-tragedy/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [What our laws show is the extent and degree to which conflict has to be suppressed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/what-our-laws-show-is-the-extent-and-degree-to-which-conflict-has-to/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Modern systematic politics, whether liberal, conservative, radical, or socialist, simply has to be rejected from a standpoint that owes genuine allegiance to the tradition…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/modern-systematic-politics-whether-liberal-conservative-radical-or/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [“unless there is a telos which transcends the limited goods of practices by constituting the good of a whole human life, the good of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/unless-there-is-a-telos-which-transcends-the-limited-goods-of/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [Traditions, when vital, embody continuities of conflict. Indeed when a tradition becomes Burkean, it is always dying or dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/traditions-when-vital-embody-continuities-of-conflict-indeed-when-a/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [The attempted professionalization of serious and systematic thinking has had a disastrous effect upon our culture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-attempted-professionalization-of-serious-and-systematic-thinking/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) > [I can only answer the question ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question ‘Of what story or stories do…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/i-can-only-answer-the-question-what-am-i-to-do-if-i-can-answer-the/) [Alasdair MacIntyre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) [Explore all 45 Alasdair MacIntyre quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/) ## More Agency quotes > [The work, the work, the work. This is what the business is all about. This is the fun, the glory, the pleasure. It's the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-dusenberry/the-work-the-work-the-work-this-is-what-the-business-is-all-about/) [Phil Dusenberry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-dusenberry/) > [Anyone who's read my 'Terror in the Skies' series knows that I have not been writing with an eye toward approval from any government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-jacobsen/anyone-who-s-read-my-terror-in-the-skies-series-knows-that-i-have-not/) [Annie Jacobsen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-jacobsen/) > [ We have no clear ideas of the agency of \[demonic\] spirits, nor is it necessary. The Scripture says little to satisfy our curiosity; but… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-newton/we-have-no-clear-ideas-of-the-agency-of-demonic-spirits-nor-is-it/) [John Newton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-newton/) > [It’s a shameful moment for U.S. media when it insists on being subservient to the grotesque propaganda agencies of a violent, aggressive state.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/it-s-a-shameful-moment-for-u-s-media-when-it-insists-on-being/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [In 1949 there was a new thing called Television, to which my agency and advisers opposed as a performance medium.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/loretta-young/in-1949-there-was-a-new-thing-called-television-to-which-my-agency/) [Loretta Young](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/loretta-young/) > [Well look, CIA is an agency that has to collect intelligence, do operations. We have to take risks and it's important that we take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leon-panetta/well-look-cia-is-an-agency-that-has-to-collect-intelligence-do/) [Leon Panetta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leon-panetta/) > [I know that God loves us. He allows us to exercise our moral agency even when we misuse it. He permits us to make…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-s-monson/i-know-that-god-loves-us-he-allows-us-to-exercise-our-moral-agency/) [Thomas S. Monson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-s-monson/) > [I was taking all prints and I brought them to the Magnum meetings, trying the old Josef Koudelka trick: Give them to photographers, who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-van-agtmael/i-was-taking-all-prints-and-i-brought-them-to-the-magnum-meetings/) [Peter van Agtmael](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-van-agtmael/) > [The WPA was one of the most productive elements of FDR's alphabet soup of agencies because it put people to work building roads, bridges,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronald-reagan/the-wpa-was-one-of-the-most-productive-elements-of-fdr-s-alphabet/) [Ronald Reagan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronald-reagan/) > [In most agencies, account executives outnumber the copywriters two to one. If you were a dairy farmer, would you employ twice as many milkers…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ogilvy/in-most-agencies-account-executives-outnumber-the-copywriters-two-to/) [David Ogilvy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ogilvy/) > [Free agency is a gift of God…The world does not comprehend the significance of that divine gift to the individual. It is as inherent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/free-agency-is-a-gift-of-god-the-world-does-not-comprehend-the/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [You are also asked to take an oath, and that's the oath of service. The oath of service is not to secrecy, but to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/you-are-also-asked-to-take-an-oath-and-that-s-the-oath-of-service-the/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [You cannot have 300-some million Americans - and really, right, the global citizenry be at risk of having their phone conversations intercepted with a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-lieu/you-cannot-have-300-some-million-americans-and-really-right-the/) [Ted Lieu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-lieu/) > [I do a lot of writing in my capacity as the creative director for a marketing agency. These days, though, I'm trying to write…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ian-doescher/i-do-a-lot-of-writing-in-my-capacity-as-the-creative-director-for-a/) [Ian Doescher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ian-doescher/) > [Unfortunately, corruption is widespread in government agencies and public enterprises.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-papandreou/unfortunately-corruption-is-widespread-in-government-agencies-and/) [George Papandreou](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-papandreou/) Browse all 1,225 Agency quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the therapist, the protester and their numerous kindred occupy almost all the available culturally recognizable roles, the notions of the expertise of the few and of the moral agency of everyone are the presuppositions of the dramas which those characters enact. To cry out that the emperor had no clothes on was at least to pick on one man only to the amusement of everyone else; to declare that almost everyone is dressed in rags is much less likely to be popular.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alasdair MacIntyre" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-aesthete-the-therapist-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Agency" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-aesthete-the-therapist-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/94f/alasdair-macintyre-14695_agency_the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-a_318312.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete, the therapist, the protester and their numerous kindred…” — Alasdair MacIntyre", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Alasdair MacIntyre", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alasdair-macintyre/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "The bureaucratic manager, the consuming aesthete,...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-aesthete-the-therapist-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alasdair-macintyre/the-bureaucratic-manager-the-consuming-aesthete-the-therapist-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```