Max Weber's Typology of Forms of Authority - Case Study Example

Weber’s ideal type of political authority helps in understanding the nature of leadership existing in the society. Weber being a social thinker and economist studied and analyzed the society with a unique perspective. There are various types of political authorities existing in the society according to his theory. In order to upgrade our lives and to have a positive life style we require persons who have political authority to rule us (Bushell, 2007).He has categorized the authorities mainly into three sects. He has distinguished different authorities based on the elements which forced the formation of power in the leaders. According to him these political authorities are Traditional, Charismatic, and rational – Legal. According to Weber, “authority is power accepted as legitimate by those subjected to it. Weber outlines three forms of authority in modern societies: traditional, charismatic, and rational-legal. These forms of authority are ideal pure types that are rarely “pure” in real life”. Political system has a rational nature and it gives political authority a legal outlook. The people who govern have been given the right to do so. The people who are subordinate believe in the actions taken by leaders trusting in their right of action. Every society has people in different position to govern the system. During the second First World War Weber raised as major critic to the government’s war policies. Marx writing had central focus on inequality and he considered it to be an inevitable part under capitalism(Laundy ,p 55,1988)After the end of the war the Germany found in Weber a statesman and an intelligent leader.Thus according to Weber they are traditional, charismatic and rational- legal. “Weber's three kinds of ideal types are distinguished by their levels of abstraction” (Coser,1977). It is very essential to understand which factors lead to the formation of different kind of leaders in the world. They are from different field of activities like political, spiritual, cultural entertainment etc. Weber details different types of ideal political authorities in order to show their genuine nature. The following are the ideal types of Weber’s political authority. According to traditional way the authority is transferred by custom or religious means. .The practice of authority is in a dictator mode and it is passed on from past. In this case the power of the authority is not challenged by the subordinates. It can be made up from cultural or spiritual aspects. They have a dominant status as the power is being given from past authority. The people are more obedient to these leaders as this system is being followed from generations. They can be the leaders or chiefs of tribal groups or spiritual sects Here we can take the example of Dalai Lama who is the spiritual leader of Buddhism. He has highest authority in Buddhism and is regarded as a godly personality. He has millions of followers throughout the world. He is the first lama who got so much popularity and this can be due to his charisma. There is lot of myths and religious belief related to the choosing of Lama every time. He is selected by people through certain Buddhist religious criteria. Dalai Lama is considered as the human incarnation of god and the embodiment of Compassion by the Tibetian Buddhist (Stewart, 2000). These kind of authority existed mostly during pre – modern times. Due to the change in the society nowadays people find it difficult to accept such leaders. Weber believes that traditional authority created inequality in the society. If people blindly follow such leader it can lead to creation of black mark in the society. But since Dalai Lama is a spiritual leader with good motive this claim can be ruled out. “Charisma, a characteristic which sets a person apart from others” (Cline ,2010) Charismatic authorities are those which create mark by their unusual personality or achievements. These people project themselves as unusual personalities and claims to possess powers strange to others. They make their stand by creating an unusual emotional bond in the mind of the common people. People look at these characters with surprise and try to follow them because of their said qualities .Mostly these authorities are kings, warriors or religious leaders. It is not necessary that the person should possess a particular quality or power people mostly follow them blindly out of emotional bond. Julius Caesar can be of such authority. He had an immense charisma attached to his personality which even made Cleopatra crave for his love. He was a great ruler of roman origin who eventually also captured Egypt .He has been looked upon as a great personality because of his style of rule and power of winning war. Caesar ardently wanted to be a general and conqueror and this was achieved with the governorship of Ilycrium and Gaul(Hooker ,1999). Weber suggests that charismatic leaders are creative in nature and establish themselves as leader no matter what with their energetic nature. They are revolutionist and mostly challenge traditional and rational authority. Rational legal authorities are those which mostly officials related to government system. The power of these people depends on the office they are related to. These people have power till the time they hold or work in the office .After leaving the office their authority or power is lost. Majority of authorities in this era is rational legal authorities like presidents, prime ministers, U.N .officials etc. These people are free and are appointed to certain position according to their experience, qualification and conduct. “Rational-legal authority is belief in the legality of patterns of standard rules and the right of those elevated to authority under such rules to issue commands (Henry)”. They are usually challenged by those who are subordinates and at times can create chaos. According to Weber this type can lead to bureaucracy in the political environment.The information flow from high command to the lower level. The supreme person like Prime Minister or President carry the highest authority. American President Mr. Barack .Obama can be a very good example of Rational – Legal Authority. He is the head of the state and the head of the government of U.S.A. “As the nation's chief executive, the president oversees foreign policy, making treaties with foreign nations and appointing ambassadors to other nations and to the United Nations”(Trethan,2010). He is considered as the most powerful and influential person in the world. So Weber has categorized political authorities into different levels according to their nature and power for the better understanding of the common people about the social System. Weber has proposed a very good theory of authority which is very descriptive and gives common men an idea on the formulation of different authorities. He reassures with this theory that how cultural aspect can help in forming a very strong leadership .With traditional authority tribal leaders and spiritual leaders are created with a big span of followers. “Weber’s various authority types help to explain the US, pre-March 2003, in regards to invading Iraq. 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.Bush(Williams).He has sharply scrutinized the human action in order to understand the system which allowed the creation of leadership. He attempts to make understand common man how people enter into three kinds of leadership. He also suggests than on any situation one leader can revert into another form of leader. Here he gives an insight to people that leaders are created my common man. Spiritual leader like Dalai Lama are blindly made up with myths and religious criteria. In reality he does not possess any particular miraculous power. But on the other hand rational – legal authorities come to existent due to their experience and qualification. Weber argues differently from Marx and states that there are various social groups in society, which possess different degrees of social powers (Zarka, 2007) Weber’s classification of ideal types has contributed much to the social science. Bibiliography Bushell,N. (2007). The Foundation of Political Authority. Available: http://www.rcsocialjusticett.org/Articles/series/2007/compendium122_281007.doc. Last accessed 14 June 2010. Coser,L(1977). The Ideal Type. Available: http://media.pfeiffer.edu/lridener/DSS/Weber/WEBERW3.HTML. Last accessed 13 June 2010. Cline,A. (2010). Emotional Bonds Between Leaders And Followers. Available: http://atheism.about.com/od/religiousauthority/a/types.htm. Last accessed 13 June2010. Hooker,R. (1999). Julius Caesar. Available: http://wsu.edu/~dee/ROME/JULIUS.HTM. Last accessed 13 June 2010. Henry,K. (). Max Weber's Typology of Forms of Authority. Available: ”. http://people.uncw.edu/kozloffm/weberauthority.doc. Last accessed 14 June 2010. Laundy, K, 1988. Sociology. 1st ed. Ontario: John Deyell Company. Stewart, W, 2000. The 14th Dalai Lama. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: Lerner Publishing Group Trethan,P. (2010). The Presidents Of United States. Available: http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/thepresidentandcabinet/a/aboutpotus.htm. Last accessed 13 June 2010. William,D. . Outline of Weber’s Theory of Authority . Available: http://danawilliams2.tripod.com/authority.html. Last accessed 14 June 2010. Zarka,H. (2005). Karl Marx And Max Weber. Available:http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/267349/karl_marx_and_max_weber_fathers_of_pg2.html?cat=4. Last accessed 13 june 2010. Read More