POWER,

AUTHORITY AND
LEGITIMACY
GREGORY, TRIZIA - ABPS
Authority
Authority can be understood as the right
to do so.

Authority is based upon a perceived

‘right to rule’ and brings about
compliance through a moral obligation
on the part of the ruled to obey.
Power and Authority
Authority can best be understood as a
means of gaining compliance which
avoids both persuasion and rational
argument.

Power on the other hand is any form of

pressure or coercion.
Kinds of Authority
by Max Weber

Traditional Charismatic Legal-Rational

Authority Authority Authority
regarded as legitimate based entirely upon the power of operates through the
because it has ‘always existed’ an individual’s personality, his or existence of a body of clearly
and was accepted by earlier her ‘charisma’. defined rules;
generations.
 Since the late twentieth century, however, the issue of authority
has become particularly contentious. On the one hand, the
Defenders progressive expansion of individual rights and liberties in
modern society, and the advance of a tolerant or permissive
and social ethic,has encouraged some to view authority in largely

Detractors
negative terms, seeing it either as outdated and unnecessary or
as implicitly oppressive.
Legitimacy

usually defined simply as

‘rightfulness’.
the quality that transforms naked
power into rightful authority;
Constitutionalism
and Consent
Consent - Willing agreement

Constitutionalism - a framework of
clear and enforceable rules and
limits that set boundaries to the
power of government.
IDEOLOGICAL
HEGEMONY
is a system of thought control. Social
power can be exercised within any given
society through ideological hegemony.
Legitimation
crises
a decline in the confidence
of administrative functions,
institutions, or leadership.
THANK YOU