Church- The church would have Traditional Authority over me. He represents the church that he works in. For example like the Pope, he owns the Catholic Church, therefore the power is his. He’s earned this, because he has the knowledge about the church etc. So it could be Rational-Legal as well.
Instructor- An instructor possesses Rational-Legal Authority. He has the knowledge of the subject that he teaching to other members of the public, that’s how he has achieved to be an instructor.
Higher ranking officer- A higher-ranking officer has Traditional Authority and Rational- Legal Authority. It is like the parent one. He represents the Police Force and must give respect, because maybe he has been in longer than you. And he has got to that place because he has maybe more knowledge about what he is doing than others.
Member of the public- If u were a member of the public service then u would have more authority over them, but if are both members of the public, then in a nut shell u should both treat each other or be treated equally. But maybe one of you is more charismatic than you are, wealthier and so on.
Coercive Authority-
This type of authority is based on the idea of punishment and is demonstrated by the idea that unless you conform to the view and opinions of someone that possesses this type of authority you will be punished.
Task 3
The cult that I have chosen to look at is the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) from the beginning, extreme actions that have taken place within the KKK and how this ties in with authority and acts of blind obedience.
The "Ku Klux Klan", from the Greek "kuklos", ("circle" or "wheel"), is, like Masonry, a "fraternal organization". This one grew out of the Civil War in America to protect and preserve the white race and ensure "voluntary separation" of the races, and even extinction of Blacks, Catholics, and Jews.
They are well known the disguised hooded Klansmen, in their white sheets, posing as ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers, with their blazing torches burning large wooden crosses in a "circle", to terrorize and kill Blacks, just for the sake of being Blacks..."we don't burn crosses, we light them", they claim, "and it is a religious celebration and ceremony, not an act of desecration"... they are really sick!... with a violent history, including lynching, murders, and bombings. This shows that the KKK are performing acts of obedience as the respect the authority possessed by the leaders such as Rational legal because it is based on the fact the leaders may have more knowledge on the blacks and the slave trade.
It is more likely that not much authority is needed to persuade a member to obey the commands of the leaders because they must have had some negative feelings towards blacks before they joined but it is very possible that charismatic authority possessed by the leaders help to convince the members to join in with lynching and killing of innocent black folk.
The KKK was known as the "Invisible Empire of the South"... in 1869 Forrest ordered the Empire to disband because of the extreme violence. Violence by the members of the KKK maybe have been stimulated further by coercive authority that was possessed by the leaders, this simply means that if a member did not go along with what the leaders said they would be punished maybe by being thrown out of the KKK and then being treated just as bad as the Blacks.
Evidently acts of blind obedience were taken by members of the KKK such as killing a coloured person and not feeling any remorse, regret or conscience. For a person to act in blind obedience f this manner it is probably evident that they have either very, very high opinions on the subject of they are being brain washed by higher powers such as the leaders of the KKK that are using their authority. May it be Coercive, rational legal, traditional or charismatic to help them in what they personally believe in.
In a way the actions that the KKK members acted out were innocent to them in the way that they had no responsibility over there own actions.
Blind obedience obviously has some very negative effects such as the fact you can control somebody to kill another person of do a random act like suicide through blind obedience and possessing the authority to make a person act like this. But blind obedience can also have some positive effects on people such as situations like the Army and war. It is very important that officers in the Army can act in blind obedience and not think about what they are doing as of killing the enemy. It would be very damaging to the army if the officers started to this “maybe what we are doing is wrong… these people we are fighting have families and children…” Etc. this would be devastating.
So blind obedience has some pros and cons but with everything in life it depends how it is being used and within what nature that we can determine whether it is an act of goodness or evil.
