Key Arguments

• In §12a Weber states: 'A prerequisite of routinisation is the termination of charisma’s lack of connection to the economy, its adaption to fiscal (financial) forms of provision, creating economic conditions capable of yielding taxes and contributions.'
• He explains that 'With the shift towards prebendialisation, the “laity” becomes differentiated from a “clergy,” members of the charismatic, but now routinised, administrative staff possessing a fixed share of revenue (priests of the emerging “churches”).'
• Similarly, 'with the development of political organisation, “tax-paying subjects” are now confronted with vassals, the holders of benefices, and in the rational case, “state” officials who are no longer “confidantes” of a charismatic leader but appointed party officials.'
• He notes that this pattern is 'typical among Buddhist and Hindu sects' and 'the same for all conquered states that have been rationalised into permanent structures, and for parties and other forms that were originally purely charismatic.'
• He then generalises: 'Rationalisation largely impels the organisation of charismatic rule into everyday forms such as patrimonial rule, especially forms hierarchised by social rank, or bureaucratised forms.'
• He adds that the originally special charismatic character persists symbolically in 'charismatic conceptions of honour associated with the hereditary social rank or office of those in leading positions,' so that 'A hereditary monarch “by Grace of God” is no simple patrimonial ruler, patriarch, or sheikh; a vassal is no mere retainer or official.'

Source Quotes

On c): α—land appropriated as a fief while retaining the character of the position as one linked to the charismatic mission. β) complete enfeoffment of ruling powers. These are hard to distinguish, but the orientation of the position to remittances does not entirely disappear, not even during the Middle Ages. §12a. A prerequisite of routinisation is the termination of charisma’s lack of connection to the economy, its adaption to fiscal (financial) forms of provision, creating economic conditions capable of yielding taxes and contributions. With the shift towards prebendialisation, the “laity” becomes differentiated from a “clergy,” members of the charismatic, but now routinised, administrative staff possessing a fixed share of revenue (priests of the emerging “churches”).

A prerequisite of routinisation is the termination of charisma’s lack of connection to the economy, its adaption to fiscal (financial) forms of provision, creating economic conditions capable of yielding taxes and contributions. With the shift towards prebendialisation, the “laity” becomes differentiated from a “clergy,” members of the charismatic, but now routinised, administrative staff possessing a fixed share of revenue (priests of the emerging “churches”). Likewise, with the development of political organisation, “tax-paying subjects” are now confronted with vassals, the holders of benefices, and in the rational case, “state” officials who are no longer “confidantes” of a charismatic leader but appointed party officials.

With the shift towards prebendialisation, the “laity” becomes differentiated from a “clergy,” members of the charismatic, but now routinised, administrative staff possessing a fixed share of revenue (priests of the emerging “churches”). Likewise, with the development of political organisation, “tax-paying subjects” are now confronted with vassals, the holders of benefices, and in the rational case, “state” officials who are no longer “confidantes” of a charismatic leader but appointed party officials. This is typical among Buddhist and Hindu sects (see the sociology of religion).29 It is the same for all conquered states that have been rationalised into permanent structures, and for parties and other forms that were originally purely charismatic.

This is typical among Buddhist and Hindu sects (see the sociology of religion).29 It is the same for all conquered states that have been rationalised into permanent structures, and for parties and other forms that were originally purely charismatic. Rationalisation largely impels the organisation of charismatic rule into everyday forms such as patrimonial rule, especially forms hierarchised by social rank, or bureaucratised forms. The originally special character of charismatic rule is expressed in charismatic conceptions of honour associated with the hereditary social rank or office of those in leading positions, whether ruler or administrative staff—it is a form of prestige attached to rule.

The originally special character of charismatic rule is expressed in charismatic conceptions of honour associated with the hereditary social rank or office of those in leading positions, whether ruler or administrative staff—it is a form of prestige attached to rule. A hereditary monarch “by Grace of God” is no simple patrimonial ruler, patriarch, or sheikh; a vassal is no mere retainer or official. These points will be elaborated in the treatment of “social rank” following.

Key Concepts

• §12a. A prerequisite of routinisation is the termination of charisma’s lack of connection to the economy, its adaption to fiscal (financial) forms of provision, creating economic conditions capable of yielding taxes and contributions.
• With the shift towards prebendialisation, the “laity” becomes differentiated from a “clergy,” members of the charismatic, but now routinised, administrative staff possessing a fixed share of revenue (priests of the emerging “churches”).
• Likewise, with the development of political organisation, “tax-paying subjects” are now confronted with vassals, the holders of benefices, and in the rational case, “state” officials who are no longer “confidantes” of a charismatic leader but appointed party officials.
• Rationalisation largely impels the organisation of charismatic rule into everyday forms such as patrimonial rule, especially forms hierarchised by social rank, or bureaucratised forms.
• A hereditary monarch “by Grace of God” is no simple patrimonial ruler, patriarch, or sheikh; a vassal is no mere retainer or official.

Context

§12a, where Weber connects the routinisation of charisma to economic and fiscal transformations and shows how this produces structural differentiations between clergy and laity, subjects and officials, and shifts charisma into patrimonial/bureaucratic forms.