Definition: Authority is a concept whose development is most often associated with the German sociologist Max Weber who saw it as a particular form of power. Authority is defined and supported by the norms of a social system and generally accepted as legitimate by those who participate in it. Most forms of authority are not attached to individuals, but rather to a social position, or status, that they occupy in a social system.
Examples:
We tend to obey the orders of police officers, for example, not because of who they are as individuals, but because we accept their right to have power over us in certain situations and we assume others will support that right should we choose to challenge it.
Max Weber has defined power as, 'the chance of a person or a number of persons to realize their own will in communal action even against the resistance of others who are participating in the action.
So, power is an aspect of social relationships. An individual or group does not hold power in isolation, but hold it in relation to others.
It is these systems of legitimation which are designated as the types of authority. They are:
(a) Traditional
(b) Charismatic
(c) Rational-legal
Elements of Authority
(a) An individual ruler or master ruler or a group of rulers / masters.
(b) An individual / group that is ruled
(c) The will of the ruler to influence the conduct of the ruled which may be expressed through commands.
(d) Evidence of the influence of the rulers in terms of compliance or obedience shown by the ruled.
(e) Direct or indirect evidence which shows that the ruled have internalised and accepted the fact that the ruler's commands must be obeyed.
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