Weber On Legitimate Norms And Authority
Weber on Legitimate Norms and Authority
Author(s): Martin E. Spencer
Source: The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1970), pp. 123-134
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The London School of Economics and Political Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/588403 .
Accessed: 21/11/2014 14:18
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
Wiley and The London School of Economics and Political Science are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The British Journal of Sociology.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 137.158.158.60 on Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:18:56 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Martin E. Spencer*
Weber on legitimate norms and authority
Weber 's classificationof the types of legitimate authority has achieved classical status in the literature of political-science and political sociology, and yet, notwithstanding this attention and homage, the entire subject appears tantalizingly incomplete. Some of the unclarified questionsinclude the problem of democraticlegitimacy, the fundamental nature of legitimacy, and most importantly, the ultimate significanceof the nature of legitimate beliefs for the structureand function of political institutions. In what follows we shall argue (I) that Weber 's typology of authority is supplemented in Weber 's own writing by a typology of legitimate normative orders; (2) that Weber 's typology of social action provides an insight into two fundamental postures of legitimacy, (3) that to the
Author(s): Martin E. Spencer
Source: The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1970), pp. 123-134
Published by: Wiley on behalf of The London School of Economics and Political Science
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/588403 .
Accessed: 21/11/2014 14:18
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp .
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
.
Wiley and The London School of Economics and Political Science are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The British Journal of Sociology.
http://www.jstor.org
This content downloaded from 137.158.158.60 on Fri, 21 Nov 2014 14:18:56 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Martin E. Spencer*
Weber on legitimate norms and authority
Weber 's classificationof the types of legitimate authority has achieved classical status in the literature of political-science and political sociology, and yet, notwithstanding this attention and homage, the entire subject appears tantalizingly incomplete. Some of the unclarified questionsinclude the problem of democraticlegitimacy, the fundamental nature of legitimacy, and most importantly, the ultimate significanceof the nature of legitimate beliefs for the structureand function of political institutions. In what follows we shall argue (I) that Weber 's typology of authority is supplemented in Weber 's own writing by a typology of legitimate normative orders; (2) that Weber 's typology of social action provides an insight into two fundamental postures of legitimacy, (3) that to the
References: Petit-Dutaillis, Charles. The FeudalMonarchyin Franceand England,tr. E. D. Hunt, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1936. Piaget, Jean, et al. The Moral Judgmentof the Child, tr. Marjorie Gabain, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1932. Simmel, Georg. The Sociologyof GeorgSimmel,tr. Kurt H. Wolff, The Free Press of Glencoe, 1950. Parsons, The Free Press of Glencoe, 1964. view such instances involve a dual basis principle ' (Simmel, 1950, pp dent, governor, senator, representative) Feudal Monarchyin France and England and non-electoral positions (federal civil (Petit-Dutaillis, 1964) in which he demonservice, executive and congressional strates how the political ideas implicit is an authority-granting factor in certain The Feudal system includes a King. ' bureaucratic structures, but is not com- (Petit-Dutaillis, 1964, P