charisma

charisma, attribute of astonishing power and capacity ascribed to the person and personality of extraordinarily magnetic leaders. Such leaders may be political and secular as well as religious. They challenge the traditional order, for either good or ill.

The word derives from the Greek charis (“grace”) and charizesthai (“to show favour”), connoting a talent or grace granted by the divine. The term came into scholarly usage primarily through the works of the German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920), especially his On Law in Economy and Society (1921), in which he postulated that charismatic authority was a form of authority distinct from those of tradition and law. The process whereby charismatic authority becomes transformed, or changed, to any of the other forms of authority (such as bureaucracy) is referred to by Weber as the “routinization of charisma.”

Typically, the charismatic leader can demand and receive complete devotion from his or her followers. The foundation of charismatic authority is emotional, not rational: it rests on trust and faith, both of which can be blind and uncritical. Unrestrained by custom, rules, or precedent, the charismatic leader can demand and receive unlimited power.

In the original sense of the word, only such phenomenal personages as Jesus or Napoleon would merit the description charismatic, but in current usage, the term is applied more broadly to popular political leaders and cult organizers alike: John F. Kennedy, Eva Perón, and cult leader Charles Manson—all have been labeled charismatic.