Post by trueblue on Aug 21, 2022 19:30:08 GMT
Donald Trump has a lot of charisma.
Let me finish. I do not mean charisma in the colloquial sense of being charming, though he has charmed millions. I’m referring to a style of leadership famously identified by the German sociologist Max Weber, who described three forms of authority or leadership: traditional, legal-rational and charismatic.
In traditional societies, monarchs derive their authority from custom. In modern societies, most leaders — elected or otherwise — are chosen based on their qualifications and expertise, and their authority is prescribed by law. Charismatic leaders bring something else to the equation: an inner quality that commands loyalty and even worship.
Let me finish. I do not mean charisma in the colloquial sense of being charming, though he has charmed millions. I’m referring to a style of leadership famously identified by the German sociologist Max Weber, who described three forms of authority or leadership: traditional, legal-rational and charismatic.
In traditional societies, monarchs derive their authority from custom. In modern societies, most leaders — elected or otherwise — are chosen based on their qualifications and expertise, and their authority is prescribed by law. Charismatic leaders bring something else to the equation: an inner quality that commands loyalty and even worship.
The ancient Greeks used the word “charisma” to mean a divine gift or grace. Weber secularized it to mean some quality that inspires intense followership. “Men do not obey a charismatic leader by virtue of tradition or statute,” Weber observed, “but because they believe in him.”