founders of the faith
.
religious principles or rules
.
faith community leaders
.
religious tradition
. other people in the faith community.
The sociologist and philosopher Max Weber distinguishes three types of authority—
charismatic, traditional and legal-rational
—each of which corresponds to a brand of leadership that is operative in contemporary society.
His three types of authority are
traditional authority, charismatic authority and legal-rational authority
(Weber 1922).
- sacred texts.
- founders of the faith.
- religious principles or rules.
- faith community leaders.
- religious tradition.
- other people in the faith community.
- Legal/Formal Authority:
- Traditional Authority:
- Acceptance Theory:
- Competence Theory:
- Charismatic Authority:
- Academic authority.
- Charismatic authority.
- Expert authority.
- Founder authority.
- Legal governing authority.
- Organizational position authority.
- Ownership authority.
- Prophetic authority.
- sacred texts.
- founders of the faith.
- religious principles or rules.
- faith community leaders.
- religious tradition.
- other people in the faith community.
1
Three sources
of authority. According to Weber, there were three major bases to authority. Charismatic authority means that deference and obedience will be given because of the extraordinary attractiveness and power of the person.
According to Max Weber, there are three sources of political authority, viz., traditional, charismatic and legal: (a) When a
continuous use of political power
or its exercise on the basis of customs and traditions leads to emergence of right to rule it is known as traditional authority.
Authority refers to
the official capacity to make a decision or take an action
. For example, a manager might have the authority to make a hiring decision, decide to spend a certain amount of money on something, choose a supplier, set deadlines and priorities, or sign a purchase order.
Examples of some of the charismatic leaders are
Gamal Abdul Nasser (Middle East)
, Saddam Hussein, Houari Boumediene, Yassar Arafat, Ayatolah Khumeini, etc. Egypt and Libya under Mubarak and Gaddafi as their charismatic leaders saw them directing their succession to their sons and families.
Basis for Comparison Power Authority Meaning Power means the ability or potential of an individual to influence others and control their actions. The legal and formal right to give orders and commands, and take decisions is known as an Authority.
Some of the important characteristics of authority are:(a)
legitimacy (b) dominance (c) an informal power (d) rationality and (e) accountability
. Legitimacy, dominance, informality, rationality and accountability are the characteristics of authority.
- sacred texts.
- founders of the faith.
- religious principles or rules.
- faith community leaders.
- religious tradition.
- other people in the faith community.
- magisterium – the teaching authority of the Catholic Church formed of the Pope and Bishops of the Church.
- scripture – the Bible which is classed as the Word of God, including the teachings of Christ.
An
individual or a body of people who are seen as communicators of such principles
but which does not have the physical power to enforce them on the unwilling are spoken of as having or being a moral authority. An example is the Catholic Church.
