Charisma disenchanted

Max weber and his critics

Datos Bibliográficos

ID20078032
AutoresDavid Norman Smith (0000-0002-1526-7766, autor de correspondencia)
Año2013
Páginas3-74
Fecha de publicación2013-12-11
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoCHAPTER
RevistaSocial Theories of History and Histories of Social Theory (SOURCE_BOOK)
EditorialEmerald Group Publishing Limited (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1108/s0278-1204(2013)0000031001
OpenAlexW2501787146
ISBN9781783502189
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas12
Referencias citadas107

Purpose The aim of this chapter is to argue that charisma is a collective representation, and that charismatic authority is a social status that derives more from the “recognition” of the followers than from the “magnetism” of the leaders. I contend further that a close reading of Max Weber shows that he, too, saw charisma in this light. Approach I develop my argument by a close reading of many of the most relevant texts on the subject. This includes not only the renowned texts on this subject by Max Weber, but also many books and articles that interpret or criticize Weber’s views. Findings I pay exceptionally close attention to key arguments and texts, several of which have been overlooked in the past. Implications Writers for whom charisma is personal magnetism tend to assume that charismatic rule is natural and that the full realization of democratic norms is unlikely. Authority, in this view, emanates from rulers unbound by popular constraint. I argue that, in fact, authority draws both its mandate and its energy from the public, and that rulers depend on the loyalty of their subjects, which is never assured. So charismatic claimants are dependent on popular choice, not vice versa. Originality I advocate a “culturalist” interpretation of Weber, which runs counter to the dominant “personalist” account. Conventional interpreters, under the sway of theology or mass psychology, misread Weber as a romantic, for whom charisma is primal and undemocratic rule is destiny. This essay offers a counter-reading

Charisma · Charismatic authority · Political science · Politics · Reading (process) · Representation (politics) · Sociology · Law · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory