Weber 1

In the three types of legitimate domination, Weber distinguishes among three different types of domination that seem to be in power. First he speaks of rational domination. Which is the idea that we take out our emotions and use pure thought and reason (or as close as we can get to it), and focus on the formal legality of the rules. The second type he distinguishes is the traditional type, in which people follow rules of society based on their past. It’s like doing something so many times that it just becomes natural over time and people in the society rarely ever even think about it, rather they just follow it because it has happened so many times. The third and final type of legitimate domination is the charismatic type. An example would be Hitler, who used his booming personality as a way to dominate the sociological arena. It is important to Weber to understand that charismatic is not as long lived as the other two, since when that leader dies, almost always, a void is left and is unable to be filled by a leader with the same dominating personality.

I thought the charismatic authority was the most interesting. While the other two types had a strong foundation in past principles and ideas of their society, it’s like if a charismatic is good enough, he can change peoples ideals, unlike the other two that focus on the past and traditions and laws. It’s like the leaders personality distracts them from their previously underlying beliefs and pulls them into whatever they want their people to believe. With that being said, I feel maybe more needs to be said about what typically happens when these charismatic leaders finally fall out of power. I am interested in how the people being rules respond to dilemma between what they used to believe, and maybe what they now believe after being under this leaders rule. I would be very interested to see if they typically held their new ideals, reverted to their old ones, or combined the two in a sense. I would have to guess that they would have a combination of the two.