ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the belief in legitimacy-regarded by M. Weber as the basis for a legitimate order and therefore as an essential component of the relationship that individuals establish with norms-is not only constructed upon tradition, affectivity, values, or legality, but also produced in ordinary social experiences and practices, within which individuals confront the structural constraints and systemic logics that order social relations. These experiences DUHXQHTXDOO\GLVWULEXWHGDFFRUGLQJ WR WKHVSHFL¿FSRVLWLRQV LQGLYLGXDOVRFFXS\ in society. This explains, on the one hand, why different societies-or different social groups within the same national society-regard the belief in legitimacy GLIIHUHQWO\DQGDOORZVRQWKHRWKHUDQH[SODQDWLRQIRUFRQÀLFWDQGFKDQJHDULVLQJ from the belief itself.
