A charismatic revolutionary leader seizes power and builds a following through personal magnetism and a compelling vision of change. When that leader dies, the movement faces a crisis of succession. According to Weber, what explains this crisis?
AThe movement lacks sufficient financial resources
BCharismatic authority is tied to a specific person and must be 'routinized' into traditional or rational-legal forms to survive
CTraditional authority cannot tolerate rivals and suppresses the movement
DRational-legal authority has delegitimized all other forms
Weber argued that charismatic authority is inherently unstable because it depends on the personal qualities of one individual. After that person's death, the movement must routinize charisma — transferring it into an office (rational-legal) or lineage (traditional) — or it dissolves. This is why revolutionary movements so often ossify into bureaucracies.
Question 2 True / False
Power and authority are essentially the same thing: both simply describe the ability to get others to do what you want.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
Authority is legitimate power — it is recognized as rightful by those subject to it, and compliance is voluntary in the sense that people accept the right of the authority to command. Raw power can compel behavior through coercion or force without any such recognition. A mugger has power; an elected official has authority. Conflating them obscures how social order is actually maintained.
Question 3 Short Answer
Why, according to the Weberian framework, is legitimacy more important than coercive force for sustaining stable long-term social order?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: Coercion is costly and provokes resistance; legitimacy produces voluntary compliance at scale because people accept the authority's right to rule. A state that rules only by force must apply it continuously and faces constant risk of rebellion, whereas legitimate authority can operate through consent.
Weber's insight is that stable domination requires Herrschaft — recognized rightfulness — not just Macht (naked power). Even highly coercive regimes invest heavily in legitimating ideologies because pure force is unstable. This connects to why political theorists from Hobbes onward have focused on the conditions under which authority is accepted, not merely imposed.