The Disenchantment of Charisma
A Weberian Assessment of Revolution in a Rationalized World
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4265142 |
|---|---|
| Authors | William H Swatos (St. Ann's Episcopal Church, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1981 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 119 |
| Publication date | 1981-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Analysis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0210 • E-ISSN: 2325-7873 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3710590 |
| OpenAlex | W2521697844 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 13 |
| References cited | 18 |
This essay addresses the question of whether and how it is possible to bring about major changes in the ways in which we order our lives in rationalized bureaucratic society. Genuine charisma—which Max Weber termed "the specifically creative revolutionary force in history"—is dependent upon social enchantment. In modern rationalized and disenchanted social systems charismatic revolution seems to be an impossibility. These correlative assertions are assessed through a reexamination of the work of Weber and a critical review of his subsequent interpreters, particularly with respect to the concept of "charisma" itself. Weber's own writings demonstrate that so-called charismatic figures in mass society are actually a part of the bureau-technic structure, which manufactures (in a thoroughly rational way) their apparent appeal. Weber's additional types of traditional and bureaucratic revolution—too often neglected in the literature—are discussed both in the context of his work and that of the current world situation
Appeal · Bureaucracy · Charisma · Charismatic authority · Context (archaeology · Disenchantment · Epistemology · Impossibility · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Emile Durkheim and Sociology · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
La rivoluzione del mondo
State, Church and Values during the Ukraine Crisis
Charisma disenchanted
How People Recognize Charisma
Visualising charisma
La fin de la religion? Réenchantement et déplacement du sacré
Televangelism and the mediated charismatic relationship
The legend of Eugene debs
The Two Faces of Charisma
Covert Hinduism, Overt Secularism
Stir into flame
The problem of suffering as a driving force of rationalization and social change
Weber, Re-enchantment and Social Futures
Legitimation of belief
Literature, popular culture, and society
The heretical imperative
The social construction of reality
From Max Weber
Max Weber’s Vision of History
Many Dimensional Man
A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain
The notion of rationality in the work of Max Weber
Hasidism and Moonism
The Religious Order
Charismatic Legitimacy and One-Party Rule in Ghana
The Case for Liberal Christianity
The Theory of Charisma
Secularization, Ethical Life, and Religion in Modern Societies
The Concept of Rationality in the Work of Max Weber
| Unique citing works | 13 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 1986 - 2025 (40) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 13 |