OutlineIn everyday parlance, charisma is often used as a colorful
synonym for sex appeal or popularity. It is also invoked to
explain how certain types of people become leaders. Yet,
the reverse is more likely to be true: very few national
political leaders selected by established party and electoral
processes are charismatic. Charisma comes from the
Greek kahrisma: gift of grace, the partaking of the
divine. Weber emphasizes that charisma refers to "an
extraordinary quality of a person, ... to which the governed
submit because of their belief " (Gerth and Mills
1946, 52 and 295.)
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