Glossary term
Rational-legal authority
Also: legal authority, legal-rational authorityЧитать на русском
In Weber's typology, authority whose legitimacy rests on belief in impersonal rules enacted by correct procedure, administered by a bureaucracy of trained officials; contrasted with traditional and charismatic authority.
In more detail
Weber argued that modern states and organisations rely mainly on legal-rational authority: officials obey and are obeyed because rules are properly enacted, not because of the person giving orders. Its typical apparatus is bureaucracy, technically efficient but prone to becoming an 'iron cage'. The concept frames debates on automated administration, where rule-based systems may be accepted as procedurally correct while escaping meaningful accountability.