11.1 Contrast power, authority, and violence; compare traditional, rational–legal, and charismatic authority.

 Politics: Establishing and Exercising Leadership

 Although seldom as dramatic as the interrogations of Winston and Julia, politics is always about power and authority. 

Let’s explore this topic that is so significant for our lives.

 Power, Authority, and Violence 

11.1 Contrast power, authority, and violence; compare traditional, rational–legal, and charismatic authority. 

To exist, every society must have a system of leadership. 

Some people must have power over others. 

As Weber (1913/1947) pointed out, we perceive power as either legitimate or illegitimate. 

Legitimate power is called authority. This is power that people accept as right. In contrast, illegitimate power—called coercion—is power that people do not accept as just. Imagine that you are on your way to buy the just-released iPhone 10 that is on sale for $250. As you approach the store, a man jumps out of an alley and shoves a gun in your face. 

He demands your money. Frightened for your life, you hand over your $250.

 After filing a police report, you head back to college to take a sociology exam. You are running late, so you step on the gas. As you hit 85, you see flashing blue and red lights in your rearview mirror. Your explanation about the robbery doesn’t faze the officer—or the judge who hears your case a few weeks later. 

She first lectures you on safety and then orders you to pay $50 in court costs plus $10 for every mile over 65. 

You pay the $250. The mugger, the police officer, and the judge—all have power, and, in each case you part with $250. 

What, then, is the difference? 

The difference is that the mugger has no authority. His power is illegitimate; he has no right to do what he did. In contrast, you acknowledge that the officer has the right to stop you and that the judge has the right to fine you. They have authority, or legitimate power. Hearing from the Author: Legitimate and Illegitimate Power

The ultimate foundation of any political order is violence, no more starkly demonstrated than when a government takes a human life. This iconic photo from the war in Vietnam shows the chief of the national police shooting a suspected Viet Cong officer. 

Credit: Eddie Adams/AP Images But just why do people accept power as legitimate? 

Weber (1922/1978) identified three sources of authority: traditional, rational–legal, and charismatic. Let’s examine each.