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Article Evaluation

In the article regarding Rational-Legal Authority, each fact has a reliable reference that backs what the writer says. The writer uses the sociology encyclopedia and the writings of Max Weber as the main references. The article stays on topic for the most part, at times the writer throws out other information about related topics but doesn’t tie them together. Other than this, most information helps the reader better understand Rational-Legal Authority. The writer doesn’t express any form of bias opinions. The claims aren’t one-sided but they are factual based off of the writer’s references. The information provided in this article comes directly from the sociology encyclopedia, from a Video of a lecture over Weber on Legal-rational authority, and Max Weber’s essay on the Three Types of Legitimate Rule. All being neutral sources, I didn’t detect any bias point of views. The article doesn’t focus on one viewpoint more than another, the whole piece sticks to the main point, I wouldn’t say its overrepresented but it focuses on what is important in order for the reader to understand the topic. Finally, after checking the citations to make sure they worked, I noticed a clear difference in the Article’s writing compared to the sites where the information was originally gathered. The article did a good job at putting the content in their own words.

Annotated Bibliography

“SOCY 151: Foundations of Modern Social Theory – Lecture 20 – Weber on Legal-Rational Authority.” Yale,

http://oyc.yale.edu/sociology/socy-151/lecture-20

In this lecture in a class at Yale university the professor goes over Weber’s Legal-Rational authority and bureaucracies. He states how Bureaucracy is the purest type of Legal-Rational authority. The professor makes it known that it is not only democratic and that monarchs and other authoritarian leaders use legal-rational authority. He touches on how members owe obedience not towards any individual in power but rather allegiance to the law that they make to make society consistent. Overall the lecture connects Legal-rational authority to establishing norms (laws).

Cline, Austin. “Modernized, Rationalized, Bonds of Office.” AboutReligion,

http://atheism.about.com/od/religiousauthority/a/types_4.htm  Accessed 2, March 2016

In Cline’s article he focuses on Weber’s Rational-Legal Authority and explains how it differs from Charismatic or Traditional authority. He says that rational or legal authority is the most accepted in the modern, industrialized era. Instead of having authority in relations to social norms or personal relationships rational authority is having society elect someone into an office position that holds power over them based on knowledge, competence and training one has. A technocratic approach comes along with rational-legal authority. Cline mentions even though one may have power over us, she should never take that power out of professional boundaries and still has to stick to the norms of everyone else. He quotes the phrase “No one is above the law”. Unlike in traditional authority, these people who hold power come from generations of the same family line and are the law, never allowing the peasants to have a critical say in how that person is put into hierarchy. Cline also says some sociologist propose a fourth kind of authority – Technical or Professional Authority, using training and expertise one must have to be elected into office to back it up. This is an atheist sight and Cline tends to use the church and Christian religion as examples of Rational and Traditional authority.

Maboloc, Christopher. “Max Weber’s 3 Types of Authority.” Inquirer,

http://opinion.inquirer.net/85293/max-webers-3-types-of-authority Accessed 20, May 2015

In Maboloc’s article, he gives brief summaries of Weber’s three different types of authorities. After explaining what the three types are, he then gives weaknesses each can have towards a society. Charismatic authority can a problem because it is based on the divine hope and belief which can lead to an unjust system. Traditional authority experiences a type of dominance over society and lacks morality in a system. Legal-Rational authority can make a bureaucracy seem very overpowering towards an individual. Order and systematics are desirable by the people but a bureaucracy cannot address the concerns of everyone.

“What is Rational-legal Authority?”

http://www.hrzone.com/hr-glossary/what-is-rational-legal-authority

No publisher/sponsor or publication date

Hrzone.com gives a brief overview of weber’s third pillar of authority – Rational-legal authority. The article goes over the benefits of using this type of authority and why it is used in most modern cultures. Society accepts this type of authority because it is uses morality and critical thinking and the government tends to the needs for the people, if the legal doctrines become incompatible with the relationship between government and the people, uprisings can occur resulting in someone new being put into office to meet the needs of a state’s citizens.

“Three Types of Legitimate Authority, (Max Weber).” Businessmate, 04 November. 2009,

http://www.businessmate.org/Article.php?ArtikelId=29.

This article discusses Max Weber’s three pillars of authority as well. A valuable note I received was that if authority is legitimate, the relation between authority and followers should be balanced so that authority is accepted by the followers. Weber saw this as a prerequisite to any authority in a governing state. After touching on the other two pillars of authority; Charismatic and Traditional, it explains how rational-legal is the core for bureaucracies and society finds this authority most legitimate.