Weber: Traditional, Legal-Rational, And Charismatic Authority

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In a society there are different authorities that we follow. According to Weber, there are three types of authorities which are are rational -legal authority, traditional authority, and charismatic authority. According to the article “Marx Weber: Traditional, Legal-Rational, and Charismatic Authority” by Dana Williams: rational-legal authority is powered by the belief that the law gives the legitimacy for example government officials; traditional authority is the belief that it is the traditional way and it is passed down for example the British Monarchy; lastly, charismatic authority is fueled by the liking of a person, it is also neutral meaning that it can go both ways (negative or positive) for example Adolf Hitler and Martin Luther King …show more content…

President Barack Obama holds legal-rational authority because he was placed in office through winning the votes of the American people. His title legally holds him accountable for everything that is going on with our country as the Commander in Chief. However, anything that he wants to do, for example creating a new law, has to go through congress first in order to be approved, therefore the congress also holds the rational-legal authority. Police officers can fall within the traditional authority since their power has been passed on from generation to generation and has it is also justified by a custom that has been existing for some time now. Donald Trump would fall under the charismatic authority, since with the personality he holds, he is able to appeal to certain group of people that find him likeable and therefore he will be able to win their votes. These types of authorities can also intersect with each other, for example, police officers can also fall under the rational-legal authority since they are a part of the government and legally are supposed to make sure everyone in the society is following the laws. The president’s and congress power and also fall under traditional authority since this has been passed down from generation to generation. However we …show more content…

I find that legal-rational is legitimate since it holds the power legally and if I do not comply with the laws it provides, it would impact my life negatively such as getting arrested, and so forth. I also believe traditional authority is legitimate since it also impacts my life but in a different way. For example, my family is Catholic and although I am not very much religious, I still have to go to church with my family every Easter Sunday, and so forth. These types of authority are most convincing to me because I have to follow the rules they apply on a day to day basis and not following them may cause a disruption. For example, if I did not go to church with my family on Easter Sunday, my family would form a commotion. Or if I decided to rob a store (not following the law) I would be arrested and sent to

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