Sociology › Section Q · Government and politics › Topic Q.1
Power and authority
Some decisions stick even though nobody is forced to obey them. Sociologists explain this with two linked ideas: power, the ability to get your way, and authority, power that people accept as rightful.
In this topic
- Who gets to decide?
- What power is
- Power from below
- Authority: power people accept
- Traditional authority
- Charismatic authority
- Legal-rational authority
- Ideal types and mixed cases
- Worked example: classifying authority
- Worked example: Mandela and the change of type
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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