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.
72
As 'pure' charisma in Weber's definition view is instable and exists 'only "in statu
nascendi"'
29
, it does not lead to permanent social formations. By employing a transformed
concept of charisma, however, he can analyze permanent social relations which are
determined by domination which is based on 'extra-ordinariness' and which he therefore
calls 'charismatic domination'. He therefore connects 'charismatic domination' to 'charisma'
by shifting from an interpretation of the individual, subjective meaning of 'charisma', to a
'functionalist' argument on the social function of 'impersonal charisma', thus reasoning
backwards, from effect to cause. By this methodological shift he is able to use the
conceptual transformations of charisma to represent a historical development.
The development Weber conceptualized first is the appropriation of everyday magic by a
masculine individual; I interpret 'routinization of charisma' as another appropriation process,
this time by the followers of the charismatic leader. Weber's 'routinized charisma' becomes a
property of the group, a foundation for 'economic subsistence', a 'permanent social
formation.' In this process 'charisma' is 'versachlicht', transformed into a thing and a
business; this transformation is the base for the establishment of 'charismatic domination'.
The historical order of this developments, however, could have been the reverse of that
Weber presents in his conceptual manipulations; it could have been that collective magic
practice and theory was first appropriated by groups of men and only later became private
property.
5. Proofs of manhood and the reversal of the burden of proof; monopolization of masculinity
by warrior fraternities
The process of 'routinization of charisma' is of central importance to an understanding of
Weber's argument on the origins of 'legal patriarchy' and its connections with his
conceptualization of social masculinity. A central link in his argument is his presentation of
the institution of the 'men's house' as an illustration of the routinization of charisma by means
of the institution of charismatic education in which magical asceticism is practiced, in order to
produce magicians and heroes.
30
I will repeat the two sentences in small type which are all Weber has written about this
important subject in his conceptual exposition; when discussing the means of closing off the
administrative staff he says:
'* The magical and warrior asceticism of the "men's house" with initiation ceremonies and age groups belong
here. An individual who has not successfully gone through the initiation, remains a "woman"; that is, he is
excluded from the charismatic group ('Gefolgschaft')
.'
31
It is easy to understand why the 'men's house' cannot be more than an illustration in Weber's
argument about routinization of charisma in the conceptual exposition. There he analyzes
charismatic domination in universalist terms, without either conceptualizing manhood in
general, or the masculine character of magical and in particular of warrior asceticism, or the
appropriation of manhood by routinized charismatic groups.
29
ES p. 246, WG p. 143.
30
Weber himself refers to his treatment of 'charismatic education' in Ch. IV ('Status groups and Classes) of his
conceptual exposition - see below, no 7 - but he did not finish this chapter. He discussed it in ES p. 1143 ff., WG
p. 677 ff.
31
ES p. 249/50, WG p. 145.
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