Anneke van Baalen, HIDDEN MASCULINITY, Max Weber's historical sociology of bureaucracy.
Amsterdam 1994. Chapter 4 Relations between men: from routinization of charisma to patriarchal
domination over men.
69
Weber defines 'charisma' as a non-everyday, revolutionary force, breaking tradition and
sometimes even bureaucracy. He therefore abstracts it from the collective knowledge and
experience, the magical practices and theories, which are the basis for attributing such
extraordinary properties to certain persons or things; in this way he projects another later
development back into prehistory.
Weber's connection of 'charisma' to 'traditional' social relations therefore is a contradictory
one. According to him patriarchal domination is the normal, everyday domination, in
particular of economic activities:
'The patriarch is the natural leader in matters of everyday life
.'
12
Weber defines 'charisma' as the very opposite of 'tradition': according to him it is non-
economic, non-everyday. 'Charismatic leaders' are the
'"natural" leaders in moments of distress - whether psychic, physical, economic, ethical,
religious, or political'; they are 'bearers of specific gifts of body and mind that were
considered "supernatural" in the sense that not everybody could have access to them'
13
.
Definitions of 'charisma' are to be found in Weber's conceptual exposition of domination, and
also in his essays on the sociology of religion and that of law in part II. In his conceptual
exposition he combines all those aspects of charisma that create social relations, analyzing
them from the viewpoint of their capacity to create permanent social formations: domination
relations, in particular military and political ones.
In Weber's conceptualization charisma is the power that breaks the connection between the
daily economic needs and the social structure in the universalist sense - between the private
sphere of production, of relations of women and men on the one hand and public life, the
struggle between groups of men, on the other. The activities concerning fulfillment of
everyday economic needs cannot be oriented to charismatic leadership, since charisma is
defined as a specifically anti-economic force, 'specifically foreign to everyday routine'
14
; it
rejects 'all methodical rational acquisition, in fact, all rational economic conduct.'
15
This does
not mean that charismatic leaders cannot be interested in money; indeed, 'in the case of
charismatic warriors, the booty is both means and end of the mission.' Charisma thus is not
hostile to money in itself, but 'to all systematic economic activities; in fact, it is the strongest
anti-economic force, even if it is after material possessions.'
16
12
'Patriarchal power has its first locus in the e c o n o m y, to be precise, in those of its branches that are
concerned with normal want satisfaction,' ES p. 1111, WG p. 654.
13
Ibid.
14
ES p. 246, WG p. 142. The translation adds the word 'structures' which is not to be found in the original text.
15
ES p. 1113, WG p. 655.
16
In Weber's view every 'need' outside of those taken care of by daily economic routine can form a basis for
special charismatic formations. Religious groups are such formations. Since Weber sees religion as having its
origin in charisma, he explains this concept most fully in the beginning of his chapter on Religious Groups, ES p.
399 ff., WG p. 245 ff.
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