contrabureaucratic

adjective

Self-consciously rejecting bureaucracy and pursuing alternative modes of organisation.

OriginEnglish bureaucratic ← French bureaucratique ← Ancient Greek κρᾰ́τος (krắtos) →
Scrabble 26
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Meanings

adjectivecontrabureaucratic (not comparable)
  1. not comparableorganisational theoryhuman sciencesSelf-consciously rejecting bureaucracy and pursuing alternative modes of organisation.

    First are contrabureaucratic structures that resist organization that promotes 'the employer viewpoint,' such as universalism.

    2006, Patricia S. Parker, “Toward an Inclusive Framework for Envisioning Race, Gender, and Leadership”, in Margaret Foegen Karsten, editor, Gender, Race, and Ethnicity in the Workplace: Issues and Challenges for Today's Organizations, Volume 1: Management, Gender, and Ethnicity in the United States, Praeger, page 42
    2 more examples

    The emergence of these contrabureaucratic organizations calls for a new model of organization that can encompass their alternative practices and aspirations.

    1979, Joyce Rothschild-Whitt, “The Collectivist Organization: An Alternative to Rational-Bureaucratic Models”, in American Sociological Review, volume 44, number 4, page 509

    While not using the term prefiguration, Rothschild-Whitt’s study of collectivist organisations was one of the first to theorise the organisational dynamics and structural commonalities of what she called ‘contrabureaucratic’ organisations, highlighting their ‘alternative practices and aspirations’...

    2019, Armine Ishkanian, Anita Peña Saavedra, “The politics and practices of intersectional prefiguration in social movements: The case of Sisters Uncut”, in The Sociological Review, volume 67, number 5, pages 987–8

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Italic*kom
  4. Proto-Italic*kom-
  5. Proto-Italic*komteros
  6. Proto-Italic*komterād
  7. Latincontrā
  8. Englishcontra-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*péh₂wr̥
  10. Proto-Hellenic*pāwər
  11. Ancient Greekπῦρ (pûr)
  12. Ancient Greekπῠρρός (pŭrrhós)
  13. Latinburrus
  14. Latinburra
  15. Old French*bure
  16. Old Frenchburel
  17. Frenchbureau
  18. Proto-Indo-European*kret-
  19. Ancient Greekκρᾰ́τος (krắtos)
  20. Frenchbureaucratie
  21. Frenchbureaucrate
  22. Frenchbureaucratie
  23. Frenchbureaucratique
  24. Englishbureaucratic
  25. Englishcontrabureaucratic

Coined by Joyce Rothschild-Whitt in 1979, from contra- + bureaucratic.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

contrabureaucratic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contrabureaucratic

MLA

“contrabureaucratic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contrabureaucratic. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “contrabureaucratic,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/contrabureaucratic.

Source: contrabureaucratic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.