Max Weber was a German sociologist, who thought of sociology as a science of meaning. He created the concept of the “ideal type”, a type of measure given to a set of characteristics of a social phenomenon. This ideal type is used to make comparisons to further interpret and understand behaviors or actions through qualitative measures, which is methodological antipositivism. He used the ideal type to measure structures of authority or domination in which there are three. He wrote of traditional authority, which is through customs and that power is given to the leader. There is rational-legal authority, which is based on domination through rules and regulations. It does not matter who the leader is, the importance is the role or position that has the power. And the third is charismatic authority, which is based on devotion of the people following the leader. The leader has power though the devotion of his subjects and therefore, without followers, the legitimization of the leader’s authority does not exist.
Using Weber’s theory of charismatic authority, I came to think of The Jonestown Massacre that happened in the late 1970’s. It was a murder-suicide by members of a sect called The People’s Temple that was established by their leader, Jim Jones (Rosenberg 2014). Jim Jones was an American that was interested in religion and spiritual healing who wanted to create his own church to convey his own beliefs. He started off as using spiritual healing as a ploy to acquire new members of his church. To other people, Jones seemed to be a charismatic leader who wanted to integrate people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds together. Jones and his wife adopted children of different ethnicities and wanted others to not abide by racial segregation. Jim Jones used charismatic authority through spiritual healing and racial integration to create a group of devoted followers who legitimized his authority over them. This authority established domination and discipline over his followers.
When Jones acquired enough resources to create the People’s Temple, he used it to help integrate people of different backgrounds together and adhere to the same church whereas many other churches were segregated. His charm and kindness to racial minorities that were oppressed helped him become more popular among their community. Jones, much like Marx and Weber, did not like the concept of capitalism. He thought it was unequal and only benefited the rich and not the poor. Jones and his followers created homes for people that had mental disabilities and for others in need, such as the elderly or addicts (Rosenberg 2014). His philanthropy got the attention and praise of political leaders and therefore, the publicity added more followers.
His power over The People’s Temple brought him legitimate domination over them. Weber defined power as imposing one’s will in a social relationship. With Power comes domination or discipline. In our reading “Power,” Weber said that domination is defined as finding a group of people that obey a command. In class we talked about it as effective if legitimate and can be done by force or coercion. The people of the sect obeyed his word but it was his charisma and charm that made them do it, I do not think that in the beginning he used force to establish domination but more so later on when he became more powerful.
His domination over the people that adhered to his church eventually became systematic and they were soon disciplined into accepting his every word and command as a habit, without saying otherwise. According to Rosenberg, his followers called him dad or father. Soon after, Jones started to call himself God. He knew he was becoming more powerful and his domination over his followers was obvious when they obeyed his word. Also in our reading on power, Weber talked about discipline and how people that obeyed a leader’s command automatically, and they do it as a habit. Giving Jones a name such as father or even God showed that they obeyed his word without thinking about it. They were now disciplined to follow everything wanted. He moved his group of followers to Guyana, a country in South America, to have their own commune, called Jonestown, to practice their religion freely. At that point, family members of followers in The People’s Temple and political parties became concerned and tried to intervene. Jones then persuaded his followers, a population count of over 900 people to drink cyanide laced Kool-Aid to their deaths (Rosenberg 2014).
The murder-suicide that was done by following the word of Jones shows that his people were extremely devoted to their leader and his will, without any critical defection. Without their devotion, their prophet or God would have been powerless. If you compare it to the other two ideal types of authority, charismatic authority gives a leader power if he has followers. Jones legitimacy rested in their hands but through his charismatic authority, he established obedience. His qualities brought him this power because he was open to others and helped people that were discriminated against. To me, Weber’s concept of charismatic authority is established if the people are given some benefit, like in this case it is spiritual healing or an accepting community.
References
Weber, Max. 2005. Selections in Translation. Trans. Runciman. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. (Weber in Runciman)
Rosenberg, Jennifer. 2014. “Jim Jones and the People’s Temple.” About.com. Retrieved February 6th, 2014. (http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/jimjones.htm).
Using Weber’s theory of charismatic authority, I came to think of The Jonestown Massacre that happened in the late 1970’s. It was a murder-suicide by members of a sect called The People’s Temple that was established by their leader, Jim Jones (Rosenberg 2014). Jim Jones was an American that was interested in religion and spiritual healing who wanted to create his own church to convey his own beliefs. He started off as using spiritual healing as a ploy to acquire new members of his church. To other people, Jones seemed to be a charismatic leader who wanted to integrate people of different ethnic and racial backgrounds together. Jones and his wife adopted children of different ethnicities and wanted others to not abide by racial segregation. Jim Jones used charismatic authority through spiritual healing and racial integration to create a group of devoted followers who legitimized his authority over them. This authority established domination and discipline over his followers.
When Jones acquired enough resources to create the People’s Temple, he used it to help integrate people of different backgrounds together and adhere to the same church whereas many other churches were segregated. His charm and kindness to racial minorities that were oppressed helped him become more popular among their community. Jones, much like Marx and Weber, did not like the concept of capitalism. He thought it was unequal and only benefited the rich and not the poor. Jones and his followers created homes for people that had mental disabilities and for others in need, such as the elderly or addicts (Rosenberg 2014). His philanthropy got the attention and praise of political leaders and therefore, the publicity added more followers.
His power over The People’s Temple brought him legitimate domination over them. Weber defined power as imposing one’s will in a social relationship. With Power comes domination or discipline. In our reading “Power,” Weber said that domination is defined as finding a group of people that obey a command. In class we talked about it as effective if legitimate and can be done by force or coercion. The people of the sect obeyed his word but it was his charisma and charm that made them do it, I do not think that in the beginning he used force to establish domination but more so later on when he became more powerful.
His domination over the people that adhered to his church eventually became systematic and they were soon disciplined into accepting his every word and command as a habit, without saying otherwise. According to Rosenberg, his followers called him dad or father. Soon after, Jones started to call himself God. He knew he was becoming more powerful and his domination over his followers was obvious when they obeyed his word. Also in our reading on power, Weber talked about discipline and how people that obeyed a leader’s command automatically, and they do it as a habit. Giving Jones a name such as father or even God showed that they obeyed his word without thinking about it. They were now disciplined to follow everything wanted. He moved his group of followers to Guyana, a country in South America, to have their own commune, called Jonestown, to practice their religion freely. At that point, family members of followers in The People’s Temple and political parties became concerned and tried to intervene. Jones then persuaded his followers, a population count of over 900 people to drink cyanide laced Kool-Aid to their deaths (Rosenberg 2014).
The murder-suicide that was done by following the word of Jones shows that his people were extremely devoted to their leader and his will, without any critical defection. Without their devotion, their prophet or God would have been powerless. If you compare it to the other two ideal types of authority, charismatic authority gives a leader power if he has followers. Jones legitimacy rested in their hands but through his charismatic authority, he established obedience. His qualities brought him this power because he was open to others and helped people that were discriminated against. To me, Weber’s concept of charismatic authority is established if the people are given some benefit, like in this case it is spiritual healing or an accepting community.
References
Weber, Max. 2005. Selections in Translation. Trans. Runciman. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press. (Weber in Runciman)
Rosenberg, Jennifer. 2014. “Jim Jones and the People’s Temple.” About.com. Retrieved February 6th, 2014. (http://history1900s.about.com/od/people/p/jimjones.htm).