Lesson 2 Legitimacy and Authority (Max Weber)
Lesson 2 Legitimacy and Authority (Max Weber)
Lesson 2 Legitimacy and Authority (Max Weber)
- Being a leader means having the power to make decisions for the well-being of the people of the state
- Why should the ones who are ruled listen to the ruler, why accept domination? Because there are 3 types of
legitimacies/ types of domination, pure, ideal types – which will never be found as such in history, just as a
mixture:
Professional politicians can ether live for politics (those that have a calling) or off politics.
– the clergy
– the educated literati (humanistic age)
– the court nobility
– the trained jurists
Politicians by vocation appeared in the modern state due to the complexity of the state
The state represents a compulsory association which organizes domination. There has to be a separation of
public functionaries into administrative officials and political officials.
The civil servants’ honor = ability to execute conscientiously the order of the superior authority
The honor of the political leader = exclusive personal responsibility for what he does
Qualities of politicians:
– empirical
– explanatory
– peer-reviewed
– non-normative (objective, unbiased, non-judgmental)
Political science:
Political science differs thus from journalism, as the later one gathers information regarding
current concerns, the focuses are already made objects, uses stereotypes and should create
political or social awareness.
– scientism
– industrial revolution (mass-ification, individualism, estates)
– the evolution of educational institutions (modern universities, public libraries)