Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The great man theory is an approach to the study of history popularised in the 19th century according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of great men, or heroes: highly influential and unique individuals who, due to their natural attributes, such as superior intellect, heroic courage, extraordinary leadership abilities, or ...
Great Man theory and zeitgeist theory may be included in two main areas of thought in psychology. [7] For instance, Great Man theory is very similar to the trait approach. Trait researchers are interested in identifying the various personality traits that underline human behaviors such as conformity, leadership, or other social behaviors.
Situational theory is another reaction to the trait theory of leadership. Social scientists argued that history was more than the result of intervention of great men as Carlyle suggested. Herbert Spencer (1884) (and Karl Marx) said that the times produce the person and not the other way around. [56]
The emergence of the concept of trait leadership can be traced back to Thomas Carlyle's "great man" theory, which stated that "The History of the World [...] was the Biography of Great Men". [6] Subsequent commentators interpreted this view to conclude that the forces of extraordinary leadership [a] shape history. [8]
The political science term Führerprinzip was coined by Hermann von Keyserling, an Estonian philosopher of German descent. [13] Ideologically, the Führerprinzip considers organizations to be a hierarchy of leaders, wherein each leader (Führer) has absolute responsibility in, and for, his own area of authority, is owed absolute obedience from subordinates, and answers to his superior officers ...
Carlyle postulated the Great Man theory, a philosophy of history which contends that history is shaped by exceptional individuals. This approach to history was first promulgated in his lectures On Heroes and given specific focus in longer studies like Cromwell and Frederick the Great.
The cult of leader was evidenced in Nazi propaganda films by Leni Riefenstahl, such as 1935's Triumph of the Will, which Hitler ordered to be made.The film showed the 1934 Nuremberg Rally, which was attended by over 700,000 supporters, and is one of the first examples of the Hitler myth filmed and put into full effect during Nazi Germany. [27]
Charismatic authority grows out of the personal charm or the strength of an individual personality. [2] It was described by Weber in a lecture as "the authority of the extraordinary and personal gift of grace (charisma)"; he distinguished it from the other forms of authority by stating "Men do not obey him [the charismatic ruler] by virtue of tradition or statute, but because they believe in him."