Presidential leadership and social theory

Herber Y.

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Presidential leadership and social theory

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Abstract

People operate under the guidance, influence, or command exerted by another person or entity throughout their daily lives. From employers to family to religion, many aspects of our lives fall under the authority of some outside structure and. Although we may share a number of commonalities with our neighbors, you may notice that no two people operate under the exact same authority structures with only one exception. Modern, democratic government affects every individual under its authority. In the United States, citizens turn to the guidance of the one official that is recognized as the leader of the democratic government—the President. It is safe to say that our nation's government structure contains many leading figures, but it is the President that is elected and becomes the face and the voice of government

Introduction
The highs and lows of America's political history
Characters required for collaborative relationship
Collaborative leadership qualities of a president
Political and social theorists
Emile Durkheim
The idea of the division of labor
Organic solidarity
Karl Marx and the development of a society
Weber's contribution to the study of authority
Weber's second typology
Weber's third and final basis for legitimate authority
The creation of Weber's ideal types
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
Weber's rational-legal grounds of authority to fight the tyranny of slavery
The struggles of Washington and Lincoln
The great political divide and congressional partisanship
Conclusion

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[...] Timothy Fuller, ed., Leading and Leadership (Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2000) Ibid Ibid Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, ed. Talcott Parsons, trans. A.M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (New York: Oxford University Press, 1947) Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Ibid Allen C. Guelzo, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004) Richard Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996.) Allen C. [...]

[...] They are all scholars that offer their ideas and theory on a number of social topics and phenomena. The fact that they were all living in a time of great social unrest in their own countries makes their theories interesting to dissect. It is because of these factors that I have chosen to explore their works in attempting to describe the essence of leadership in the recent history of the American government. Emile Durkheim described himself as a student of society. [...]

[...] Henderson and Talcott Parson's book The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, Max Weber's authority structures are presented as the fundamental aspect of a society's structure. Weber's methodology of research set him apart and made his studies very different from the prevailing method of study during his time. One tendency of thought of his time was to attempt to assimilate the sciences of human behavior (sic) as closely as possible to the natural sciences What Weber did was to take an enormous step in the direction of bridging the gap between the two types of sciences, and to make possible the treatment of social material in a systematic scientific manner rather than as an art.[4] This becomes an essential aspect of Weber's contribution to the study of authority because his methodology allows for the formation of generalized categories. [...]

[...] In other words, Lincoln could afford eloquence at Gettysburg; he could not in the Proclamation.[17] The struggles of Washington and Lincoln propelled the idea and strengthened the notion of presidential leadership. Washington continued to work on achieving the legitimacy of his governed, which during the pinnacle of this career encompassed a wide audience including the Congress, members of his army and the citizenry in general. long years of the struggle, while they gave rise to doubts and criticisms, transformed the infatuation into genuine admiration. [...]

[...] In current times of great political divide and congressional partisanship, presidential leadership relies more and more on charismatic grounds of authority to establish legitimate authority. It is interesting to realize that in exploring Weber's three ideal authority types, it was the dissection of two presidents who faced particular circumstances that both created a nation and kept a nation together that would establish a legal-rational means of authority for presidential figures for the rest of our nation's history. Recent scholars of presidential leadership, When we take a look at leadership in more recent times, we find that that noted leadership authors, including James MacGregor Burns have noted that presidential leadership as being perceived as a failing institution. [...]

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