The Basis of Authority

When we ask what the basis of political authority is, we are concerned with what I . answer to The Question, for the basis of authority-over is unlikely to be the.
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The three authority types may be re-enforced by traits that differentiate them from other types. Traditional authority is impersonal unlike charisma and non-rational unlike legal-rational.

Max Weber’s 3 types of authority | Inquirer Opinion

Charismatic authority is dynamic unlike tradition and non-rational again, unlike legal-rational. Finally, legal-rational authority is dynamic unlike tradition and impersonal unlike charisma. Conversely, Blau means to say that traditional is un-dynamic, charisma is personal, and legal-rational is rational.

The likelihood of retaining a particular type of authority may depend on the ability of that authority system to retain the traits that make it unique and reject the traits that make it more conducive to another authority type. To elaborate, particular authority types can lose their power to - and thus transition into - other types by some of the following ways.


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Revolutionary ideals can be advocated by a charismatic leader or the rational pursuit of ends via abstract formal principles can both weaken traditional authority. Revolutionary charismatic movements can be crystallized into a traditional order or bureaucratized into a rational formal organization.

Finally, the irrational forces and powers of tradition or charisma can weaken legal-rational authority. Traditional authority is the basis for status groups.

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Charismatic authority lends itself to a market scheme such as the potential for life chances , and Weber considered it to be the outcome of class. Finally, parties are the codification of legal-rational authority, especially in the case of bureaucracies.

How can this theory be applied to present-day phenomenon? Here are two contemporary examples of dynamic forces in the US: If Weber were alive to analyze it, he would likely say that the strongest of the types was charismatic authority, embodied by US President George W.


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Although he has little military experience, he was able to project a sense of urgency to much of the American populace about the need to attack Iraq. According to many polls, a good number of Americans were willing to simply trust Bush in whatever he did on the matter, a sentiment repeated again during and after the US invasion. Weber would also point towards traditional authority as the basis for the pro-invasion sentiment of the country.

The tentative and dissident portions of the country relied on legal and rational authority for their power and influence. Legal authority would require a mandate from the US Congress to go to war putting aside the War Power Act ; but the charisma of Bush was great enough to push aside this requirement for much of the pre-invasion debate discussion should have originated in a deliberative body, not from the Commander in Chief , and later enough to influence Congress to permit it. Legal authority also conflicted with charismatic authority internationally, as Bush flaunted international law and the United Nations by moving towards a clearly illegal act.

Even though it was illegal, the legal authority of the UN and international community was not enough to enforce international law or to stop a US invasion. Perhaps the most relevant authority for the anti-war constituency was a popular authority - one part charismatic in that it attempted to be a movement for social change and one part legal-rational in its attempts to use the legal system nationally and internationally.

This popular authority can be viewed as an attempt to 1 force the US and Bush to adhere to the law, and 2 use the political system as a mechanism for lobbying, as legally defined. Had he, it might have caused him to create another category of authority. The anarchist reaction to various kinds of authority is fundamental.

Simply, anarchism opposes any authority that is placed above the individual and collective interest.


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Finally, anarchists reject legal-rational authority since its power is lodged within the confines of the State, which is bureaucratic as Weber pointed out and hierarchical. Anarchism claims that laws are made and enforced to protect the few and the expense of the many. Like Marx, they view the legal and political system as a tool of the bourgeoisie class.

Authority (sociology)

At its core, anarchism is explicitly anti-authoritarian. Authority can be created expressly when public entities act publicly, using the same means to communicate the grant of authority to their agents that they use to communicate this to third parties, apparent authority describes the situation when a principal has placed restrictions on an agent that are not known to a third party, and restrictions on government agents are accomplished in the open, through laws and regulations. In this setting, all parties concerned is assumed or supposed to know the laws and regulations of government.

Recently the concept of authority has also been discussed as a guiding principle in human—machine interaction design. Authority and its attributes have been identified as of particular relevance to children as they regard their parents and teachers. The three attributes of authority have been described as status , specialist skills or knowledge , and social position. Children consider the type of command, the characteristics of the authority figure, and the social context when making authority conclusions.

Although children regard these three types of authority attributes, they firstly assess the legitimacy of the authority figure in question using the nature of the commands they give. Regarding parenting, authoritative parents who are warm and high in behavioural control but low in psychological control are more likely to be seen as having legitimate authority by the child, and will believe themselves that they have a duty to obey them and internalise their values.

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