Charismatic Authority

The eminent sociologist Max Weber devised a useful way to understand how authority figures get and keep power. He described three different categories: rational-legal authority, traditional authority, and charismatic authority. I’ll be focusing on charismatic authority, but knowing all three of these categories will help you understand how different people exercise leadership. Thinking about how people act, and how, and under whose authority, plays a big part in putting the pieces of social psychology together.

Imagine the kind of authority a leader can wield from a position like this one.