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Max Weber’s Charisma

Christopher Adair-Toteff

Mississippi State University, USA, csat{at}adelphia.net, csa-t{at}web.de

Scholars have concentrated on Max Weber’s notions of traditional and bureaucratic authority because these figure prominently in his lifelong concern with the rise of Western rationality. However, Weber himself often characterized what something is by showing what it is not. In his discussions of the third type of authority, charisma, he demonstrates what charisma is not then what it is. He contrasts the permanence, rules and impartiality of bureaucratic authority with the changing, arbitrary and personal characteristics of charismatic leadership. Weber also opposes the ‘everydayness’ and economic concerns of the bureaucratic and traditional authorities with the ‘extraordinary’ feature and otherworldly indifference of the revolutionary nature of the charismatic leader. I contend that his examination of charisma is not merely another of his important sociological studies; in addition, it has far-ranging implications for showing the strengths and weaknesses of the religious and especially of the politically charismatic leader.

Key Words: authority • bureaucratic authority • charisma • dominance • leadership • traditional authority • Weber

Journal of Classical Sociology, Vol. 5, No. 2, 189-204 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/1468795X05053491
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