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Rethinking charisma?

Rethinking charisma?. Geertz, “Centers, Kings, and Charisma”. Need to rethink Weber’s concept?. After Weber – psychological focus (on personal radiance, magnetism) Shils:

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Rethinking charisma?

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  1. Rethinking charisma? Geertz, “Centers, Kings, and Charisma”

  2. Need to rethink Weber’s concept? • After Weber – psychological focus (on personal radiance, magnetism) • Shils: • involvement (can be oppositional) with the active centers of the social order (vital arenas of momentous events); being near the heart of things • sacred dimension of sovereign power • symbolic aspects of power – should not be perceived as mere force in the service of naked interests

  3. Elizabeth’s progressions: • Didactic pageants instructing the queen to uphold central virtues • She stands proxy for these virtues – power dressed up in virtue (Protestant moralism) • Need for dramatic visual presentation/parable/moral tale • Pragmatic ministers/advisers – clueless!?

  4. Hasan’s expeditions: • Personal power/strength is vital – the ability to prevail is seen as a sign of grace (projection of divine energy) • Agonistic world – no need to dress power in transcendent meaning • Baraka – personal magnetism • Constant struggle, projection of power • Failure of administrative, military, and economic reforms • French conquest

  5. Hayam Wuruk’s marches: • Political order reflecting a cosmic hierarchy • Geometrical/symmetric structure/ aesthetics • Metaphysical road show, regnant themes of political worldview • Chain of status/imitation

  6. Conclusions: • All sovereign power has a sacred dimension – inner necessity? • Political authority requires a cultural frame, symbolism, “political theology,” exaltation, transcendence – even in the seemingly demystified modern world? • Lasswell, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How: • a culturally distinctive understanding • as transcendental as pre-modern perspectives? • The most flamboyant expressions of charisma – at some distance from the center?

  7. The modern predicament? • Disenchantment of the world: • desacralization, alienation, estrangement, profanization, immanentization, malaise, anomie, ennui, “homeless mind” • loss of transcendence, purpose, meaning? • Utilitarian worldview? • Political science?

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