Culture and authority

The definition and acceptance of the authority of one individual by another is a function of culture and society. As with virtually all cultural values, there are individual interpretations of the norm, and hence individual variation, but certain modal patterns emerge. The use of impersonal and ‘‘rational-legal’’ authority as a means of controlling individuals, as suggested in formal models of bureaucratic management, is a culturally determined concept. First, it is intimately connected to the social-cultural patterns of the West, and even then to a rather small segment of Western thought. This managerial strategy, to be successful, would require the support of a generally hierarchical and bureaucratic society – the Germany of Weber, perhaps. A culture that stressed the virtues of individualism and personal equality would find it difficult to accept such an impersonal system of management.