ts, needs, and goals, all of which are facilitated by better communication between members due to its small size. Characterized by common wants and a basic uniformity, this promotes efficiency within the group that allows them to become more influential in society and to thus create and maintain a societal norm.
Mosca describes the ruling class as “an organized minority…with a common understanding” (Mosca 53) and attributes that allow them to dominate and be influential. In separate historical instances, Mosca explains the basic conditions under which a group of people became a class ruling over another. In one example, the transition from an agricultural to warlike society enabled warriors, a position once avoided by men because of the risk of death, to become a dominant class. Changes in societal values and lifestyles (from farmers to crusading and defending warriors) best explain this “superposition of races” (Mosca 54); that is, the warriors possessed and represented what evolved to become valued at the time over agriculture, the maintenance of security.
Similarly in some other societies, priests who “possess legal and scientific knowledge…constitute the class of highest intellectual culture” (Mosca 59). Thus, possession of what was greatly valued became a prerequisite, and in this case, the power of knowledge.
On the other hand, individual power is associated with the ruled class, an “unorganized majority” (Mosca 53) where each person carried their own individual power. Due to their sheer size, not only would their opinions and interests greatly differ, but it would also make it harder for them to “organize for reaction against the minority” (Mosca 53). Thus, as Mosca states, “individual power is curbed by the collective power” (Mosca 57) where the ruled are subjected to the ruling class.
However, transition between collective and individual power is dynamic and fluid Conflicts through the introduction of “foreign peoples…discoveries, wars…new poverty and new wealth…new ideas…new social elements” (Mosca 67) can arise to counter and reestablish what was valued before. For example, in the case of priestly aristocracy, if one were to possess the mechanical process of gaining knowledge (Mosca cites a scribe) or a new religion or ideas were to sweep the society, then such a “shift in the balance of political forces” (Mosca 65) would break the norm and allow the ruled to force their way up.
Thus collective power can be represented by the ruling class and individual by the ruled given the understanding of power and the nature of Mosca’s social structure. Contrary to Mosca, in Weber’s “Charisma and Its Transformation,” collective power lies in the majority of the people for in this case, their collective interest and goal is embodied in their leader. Their goal creates a standard and their support of such an ideal form the belief of the value of a larger cause, and thus the very foundation of their power.
Unlike any other form of domination, charismatic domination relies on personality and “specific gifts of body and mind” (Weber 1112). It does not depend on material gifts or compensation, but rather “voluntary contributions of its own following” (Weber 1113). According to Weber, the power of the charismatic leader rests on his followers’ recognition of his mission. That is, to the people, the charismatic leader is the embodiment of their goals, and his being a charismatic leader to begin with, rests solely on their belief and legitimization. Thus the leader depends on “personal devotion…and enjoys loyalty and authority by virtue of a mission believed to be embodied in him” (Weber 1117).
Furthermore, charismatic domination works by internalizing its ideas and “manifests its revolutionary power from within” (Weber 1117). By internalizing these ideas, people are basically responsible for validating and legitimizing the charismatic leader’s existence and power. Therefore, the followers as a group form a collective power by setting and maintaining the custom.
The charismatic leader’s power as a result, is influenced by his foll