Weber's types of authority
Also called: Traditional, charismatic and legal-rational authority · Topic: Political Theory: Freedom and Rights · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
Max Weber sorted legitimate authority (power that people accept as rightful) into three types:
- Traditional: based on custom and long habit, as with hereditary princes.
- Charismatic: based on a leader's personal pull and exceptional qualities.
- Legal-rational: based on impersonal rules and offices, as in a bureaucracy.
The classification explains why people obey, and not just who holds power.
Example
Gandhi's hold over millions during the freedom struggle was charismatic authority. A district collector today is obeyed because of the office and the law behind it, not because of personal qualities. That is legal-rational authority.
Don't confuse with
- Weber's definition of the state ("Politics as a Vocation", 1919): this calls the state the community that successfully claims a monopoly of the legitimate use of force within a territory. That defines the state itself, not the kinds of authority.