The Ultimate Charismatic Authority Quiz

Max Weber's concept of Charismatic Authority

• Charismatic authority is a leadership concept that derives from the charisma of the leader, developed by Max Weber.
• Charisma is something that followers attribute to the leader, which opens it up for sociologists to apply to various contexts.
• Charismatic authority is one of Max Weber's tripartite classification of authority, which stands in contrast to legal and traditional authority.
• Charisma is difficult to define scientifically, but it can be studied scientifically if seen as a costly signal using values, symbols, and emotions.
• Charismatic authority is idiosyncratic in nature, and it depends much more strongly on the perceived legitimacy of the authority than Weber's other forms of authority.
• Charismatic authority almost always endangers the boundaries set by traditional or rational authority, and it tends to challenge this authority, making it revolutionary.
• Charismatic authority is often incorporated into society through routinization, which changes the charismatic authority.
• Charismatic succession is the way in which a society can transfer charismatic authority to another leader by means of succession.
• The methods of succession include search, revelation, designation by the original leader, designated by qualified staff, hereditary charisma, and office charisma.
• Charismatic leaders are unpredictable, and they may lack any accountability, require unquestioning obedience, and encourage a dependency upon the movement for material, spiritual, and social resources.
• Charismatic leaders exhibit traits of narcissism and display an extraordinary amount of energy, accompanied by an inner clarity unhindered by the anxieties and guilt that afflict more ordinary people.
• Charismatic authority is often found in politics, various authoritarian states, autocracies, dictatorships, and theocracies.