Authority: A Sociological HistoryConcern with authority is as old as human history itself. Eve's sin was to challenge the authority of God by disobeying his rule. Frank Furedi explores how authority was contested in ancient Greece and given a powerful meaning in Imperial Rome. Debates about religious and secular authority dominated Europe through the Middle Ages and the Reformation. The modern world attempted to develop new foundations for authority – democratic consent, public opinion, science – yet Furedi shows that this problem has remained unresolved, arguing that today the authority of authority is questioned. This historical sociology of authority seeks to explain how the contemporary problems of mistrust and the loss of legitimacy of many institutions are informed by the previous attempts to solve the problem of authority. It argues that the key pioneers of the social sciences (Marx, Durkheim, Simmel, Tonnies and especially Weber) regarded this question as one of the principal challenges facing society. |
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ancient Arendt argued argument attempt auctoritas Augustus authorisation authoritarian behaviour belief charismatic charismatic authority Church Cicero claim conceptualised conflict consent constitution cultural custom defined definition democracy democratic Dictatus Papae difficult doctrine domination Durkheim elite emergence exercise experience expressed figure find first force form of authority French Revolution Gregorian reform historical Hobbes Hobbes’s ical idea individual influence influential institutions intellectual interpreted J. S. Mill justified leader legitimacy legitimate liberal masses medieval modern moral authority nineteenth century obedience Odysseus ofthe papacy papal people’s political authority principle of authority problem of authority problem of order public opinion question rational rationalisation reflected Reformation relationship religion religious represented Revolution role Roman Roman Empire Roman law Roman Republic Rome rule rulers scientific secular self—consciously significant social society sociology Socrates sought source of authority sovereign sovereignty specific Talcott Parsons theorists Thersites thinkers tion tradition validation Weber Wolin wrote