What is charismatic authority?
What is charismatic authority?
Authority is a legitimate form of power socially vested within an individual or group. Authority needs to be fair to be socially accepted. The type of authority that functions within a family structure can classify and distinguish between societies.
Max Weber is a German sociologist who classified types of authority in his work 'Politics and Vocation' during 1919 and 1920.
He categorized three types of authority: legal-rational authority, traditional authority, and charismatic authority.
Charismatic authority is the type of authority that is based on the nature and personality of an individual. Charisma is seen as a natural personality trait possessed by specific individuals, making them very attractive to a general audience. A charismatic leader is often a good orator and can attract several followers' attention, making him the leader. The leader holds the ultimate power in this type of authority, and the reign ends with the death of the concerned leader because this form of authority is vested in one individual.
A well-known example of a charismatic leader is Adolf Hitler, the founder of Nazism in post world war Germany.
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