CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP AND SOCIAL CHANGE: A WEBERIAN PRESPECTIVE

Abstract

The term "charismatic leader" has recently attained widespread and almost debased currency. In the past, it was occasionally applied to leaders like Gandhi, Roosevelt, Hitler and Lenin. Now nearly every leader with marked popular appeal, especially those of new states, is indiscriminately tagged as charismatic. To avoid such indiscriminate and therefore meaningless use of the term, we should know what is or should be included in the category of charismatic leadership to distinguish it from other forms of leadership. In the present study an attempt is made to see how Weber dealt with sociological components of charisma and bring together all that Weber himself wrote on the subject and systemize that material with the help of writings of modern Sociologists in order to develop the theory of Charismatic Leadership into a more workable tool for understanding Charisma as crucial to Weber's system of analysis as the basis for the explanation of social change.