Vincent Kundukulam
Authority is not a power attached to individuals. It is a form of power attached to the social system which the individual acquires on behalf of the position s/he occupies in its governing structure. For instance, people obey the police not because of their personal worth but because of their signifying value. They represent the authority of the government in the society. In the same manner, the police demands submission to their orders not on account of their personal capacities or talents but on behalf of the legal power that is attributed to the office of police.
Given the power of authority is grounded on social system, the legitimacy of using power depends largely on how it is used for the well-being of people. Authority becomes legitimate only when it is administered within the goal set by the society for that particular office. Therefore, an individual can retain authority only if people share the feeling that she or he properly exercises power.
Although society has thus control over the authorities, it is also our experience that some of them misuse power. It happens because the possibility for misusing power is inherent in the very structure of the authority. The orders of the authorities are obeyed on the ground of a common belief that those who are in positions shall act only according to the norms set by the society. It is by this reason that people subordinate their will to an authorized person independent of the content of their orders. They consider the directive of a ruler as something binding by the very fact that such an order is given by the authority. It paves the way for the administrators to mishandle power.
Another factor that helps the misuse of power by authorities is the stranded situation of the citizens. The ordinary men don’t have sufficient means to check whether the concerned authority acts with proper mandate. Because of this powerlessness, people don’t dare question the authorities. The authorities know about this loophole in the social system and some of them manipulate this confusing situation. They put on far more power than what is attached to their office. In brief, the chance for misuse of power could be seen as already built into very structure of authority itself.
Authority has to be understood in relation to power. While the source of authority is social mechanism, the source of power is the ability of the individuals or groups. Power designates the capacity to make one’s own interests or concerns count even when exist obstacles and oppositions. To Max Weber, power resides in the ability of individuals or groups to realize their own will in a community even against the resistance of others who are participating in that action. The main difference between authority and power is with regard to their legitimacy. While authority is a form of power that is endorsed by the social systems, and thereby supported by those who are subjected to it, power lacks the legitimacy of the public. Power resides rather in the individual or in a group who succeed in making the subjects obey on account of either fear or force or veneration.
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