Everything about Charismatic Domination totally explained
The
sociologist Max Weber defined
charismatic authority as "resting on devotion to the exceptional sanctity, heroism or exemplary character of an individual person, and of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him."
Charismatic authority is one of three forms of
authority laid out in Weber's
tripartite classification of authority, the other two being
traditional authority and
rational-legal authority. The concept has acquired wide usage among sociologists.
Characteristics
In his writings about charismatic authority, Weber applies the term
charisma to "a certain quality of an individual personality, by virtue of which he's set apart from ordinary men and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a leader [...] How the quality in question would be ultimately judged from an ethical, aesthetic, or other such point of view is naturally indifferent for the purpose of definition."
Charismatic authority is 'power legitimized on the basis of a leader's exceptional personal qualities or the demonstration of extraordinary insight and accomplishment, which inspire loyalty and obedience from followers'. As such, it rests almost entirely on the
leader; the absence of that leader for any reason can lead to the authority's power dissolving. However, due to its idiosyncratic nature and lack of formal
organization, charismatic authority depends much more strongly on the perceived
legitimacy of the authority than Weber’s other forms of authority. For instance, a charismatic leader in a
religious context might require an unchallenged
belief that the leader has been touched by
God, in the sense of a
guru or
prophet. Should the strength of this belief fade, the power of the charismatic leader can fade quickly, which is one of the ways in which this form of authority shows itself to be unstable. In contrast to the current popular use of the term
charismatic leader, Weber saw charismatic authority not so much as character traits of the charismatic leader but as a relationship between the leader and his followers — much in the same way that
Freud would transform
Gustave Le Bon's
crowd psychology through the notion of
identification and of an
Ideal of the Ego. The validity of charism is founded on its "
recognition" by the leader's followers (or "adepts" -
Anhänger). This recognition "is not (in authentic charism) the grounds of legitimity, but a
duty, for those who are chosen, in virtue of this call and of its confirmation, to recognize this quality. "Recognition" which is, psychologically, a completely personal abandon, full of
faith, born either from enthusiasm or from necessity and hope. No prophet has seen his quality as depending from the crowd's opinion towards himself", although his charisma risks disappearing if he's "abandoned by God" or if "his government doesn't provide any prosperity to those whom he dominates".
Note that according to Weber, a charismatic leader doesn't have to be a positive force; thus,
Benito Mussolini and
Adolf Hitler could be reasonably considered charismatic leaders. Furthermore, sociology is
axiologically neutral (
Wertfreie Soziologie) towards various forms of charismatic domination: it doesn't differentiate between the charisma of a
Berserker, of a
shaman or of that displayed by
Kurt Eisner. For Weber, sociology considers these types of charismatic domination in "an identical manner to the charisma of
heroes, prophets, the "greatest" saviours according to common appreciation".
Other terms used are "charismatic domination" and "charismatic leadership"
Routinizing charisma
Charismatic authority almost always evolves in the context of boundaries set by traditional or rational (legal) authority, but by its nature tends to challenge this authority and is thus often seen as
revolutionary. However, the constant challenge that charismatic authority presents to a particular society will eventually subside as it's incorporated into that society. The way in which this happens is called
routinization.
Routinization is the process by which ‘charismatic authority is succeeded by a bureaucracy controlled by a rationally established authority or by a combination of traditional and bureaucratic authority’ (Turner, Beeghley, and Powers, 1995 cited in Kendal et al. 2000). For example,
Muhammad, who had charismatic authority as "The Prophet" among his followers, was succeeded by the traditional authority and structure of
Islam, a clear example of routinization.
Some leaders may employ various tools to create and extend their charismatic authority; for example utilizing the science of
public relations.
As in the example of Christianity, a religion which evolves its own
priesthood and establishes a set of laws and rules is likely to lose its charismatic character and move towards another type of authority upon the removal of that leader.
In politics, charismatic rule is often found in various
authoritarian states,
autocracies,
dictatorships and
theocracies. In order to help to maintain their charismatic authority, such regimes will often establish a vast
personality cult, which can be seen as an attempt to gain legitimacy by an appeal to other forms of authority. When the leader of such a state dies or leaves office and a new charismatic leader doesn't appear, such a regime is likely to fall shortly thereafter unless it has become fully routinized.
Application of Weber's theories
Weber’s model of charismatic leadership giving way to institutionalization is endorsed by several academic sociologists, such as
Eileen Barker. Barker discusses in a book written for the general public how new religious movements often have founders or leaders who wield considerable charismatic authority and who are believed to have special powers or knowledge. She asserts that almost by definition, charismatic leaders are unpredictable, for they're not bound by tradition or rules. Such leaders may be accorded by their followers the right to pronounce on all aspects of their lives. Barker warns that in these cases the leader may lack any accountability, require unquestioning obedience, and encourage a dependency upon the movement for material, spiritual and social resources..
George D. Chryssides asserts that not all new religious movements have charismatic leaders, and that there are differences in the hegemonic styles among those movements that do.
Len Oakes, an
Australian psychologist who wrote a dissertation about charisma, had eleven charismatic leaders fill in a psychometric test, which he called the
adjective checklist and found them as a group quite ordinary. Following the
psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut, Oakes argues that charismatic leaders exhibit traits of
narcissism and also argues that they display an extraordinary amount of energy, accompanied by an inner clarity unhindered by the anxieties and guilt that afflict more ordinary people. He did however not fully follow Weber's framework of charismatic authority.
Further Information
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