Charisma Reconsidered

the idea that a charismatic leader could be measured by a ‘paper and pencil’ test
seems ludicrous. But in practice the origins of cultural tendencies of a novel kind
in contemporary society do seem to cohere reasonably well with this. ‘Originality’
is a feature of the cultural notion of charisma itself, and the ability to get others to
follow one’s ‘original’ cultural contribution, values and attitudes is a defining
feature of the ‘cultural’ notion of charisma.
In the case of organizational culture change, the link between charisma
and fear and uncertainty is clear, and if we generalize, we can begin to make more
sense of the present role of celebrity. In a recent book, the feminist literary critic
Elaine Showalter argues that the women’s movement has needed, and continues
to need icons, role-models, ‘as a way of confronting and reinventing ourselves’
(quoted in Taylor, 2002: 6). The significance of this need becomes more evident
when we consider the places in which celebrity is most effective. I have already
discussed the example of Madonna, and noted that it is the presence of social fear
that gives the fan’s imitation of Madonna its force – imitation is a way of
overcoming this fear. If the need for icons is a sign of social fear, of a situation
of social danger and uncertainty that a charismatic example can serve to dispel by
defining and localizing, one can ask why there is this fear and uncertainty. And
one can give a Weberian answer. Weber was living in what might be thought of as
an early post-Christian period in which the terms that had been put in place by
older religious systems, like sin, had lost the cognitive support they once had. It
was the generation that had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. As I have
noted, 19th-century ethical thinking leans very heavily on concepts of obligation
that to our ears seem peculiarly formal and technical and survive mostly in the
context of law and ethical theory rather than ordinary speech. The loss of
the burden of these concepts, however, comes at a price in certainty and security.
Today uncertainty surrounds sex roles.
With this we come full circle, to the Polynesians and their taboos.
Charismatic leaders and charismatic exemplars are probes into the uncertainties
and dangers of the world. Their successes and failures tell their audiences
something that reduces that uncertainty and defines it – ‘localizes’ it, in Steiner’s
terms. The process seems mysterious only if we imagine interdictions or charismatic
examples outside of the special situations that give them their force –
situations of diffuse uncertainty or ignorance and fear in which any information
about danger has a powerful defining effect. But diffuse uncertainty and fear, and
bafflement about success, are a matter of degree, and consequently so is the force
of the examples and interdictions that make dangers specific.
The Age of Charisma?
Weber never imagined that what the future held was a new age of charisma, and
indeed he specifically placed the possibility of the old Gods arising from their
graves at the time after the last ton of fossilized coal had been burned, after which
TURNER CHARISMA RECONSIDERED 23