AUTHORITY
In: Political studies, Band 11, Heft 3, S. 257-271
ISSN: 0032-3217
In pol'al sociol authority means power to command voluntary obedience. This power is causative, not coercive, although those who recognize a ruler's authority, by voluntarily obeying him from respect for certain of his attributes, may authorize him to use coercive power against those who do not. In legal discussion `authority' means not actual power, but power prescribed by pol'al rules. It is possible for a ruler to have `legal' authority without `sociol'cal' authority, or vice versa. Authority in the sociol'al sense is diff'ly evaluated depending on whether it is compared with naked force or individual liberty. The decision to accept someone as an authority may be rational or irrational, but acceptance of authority entails obeying commands of those in authority without considering whether those commands are rational or irrational. Men do not necessarily accept authority for any ends. If they do, the ends may be moral or immoral. HA.