Perceptions of Authority and the Power Strategies Used by Clergymen

Abstract

This study tested the assumption that there is a direct correspondence between a clergyman's perception of his authority and the power strategies he uses to influence his congregation. Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic clergymen (N = 96) responded to a mail-survey. The results provided weak support for the assumption that clergymen use preferentially those strategies consistent with their basis of authority. The single incidence of a correspondence was between identifying with charismatic authority (i.e., being directly chosen by God) and using charismatic strategies, such as demonstrating that the gift of grace is within the clergyman. Identification with charismatic and traditional authority was associated with the greater use of strategies intended to influence the congregation. These results were discussed in terms of the existence of a hierarchy of authority bases, with authority which is perceived to be more closely associated with God being related to the use of more strategies to influence congregations. This study is an extension of the work of Hammond, Salinas, and Sloane (1978) who examined clergymen's perceptions of their authority. They categorized religious authority according to their interpretation of Weber (1946, 1947). In particular, they defined as charismatic the authority that derives from the special, superhuman gifts of the individual clergyman. Such authority was portrayed as deriving directly from God who is thought to have given these clergymen the special qualities that make lay people follow them. The present study modified the authority typology used by Hammond et aL by replacing the rational-pragmatic authority included in Hammond et at's original work with traditional authority. This was done because Hammond et aL had failed to include traditional authority in their data collection and had expressed regret for having neglected this significant part of Weber's theory. Rational-pragmatic authority was omitted in this present study because this was not part of Weber's theory of clerical authority. Therefore, in addition to charismatic authority, the present study examined two alternate types of authority: traditional and legal-rational. Traditional authority was portrayed by Weber as the routinization of charisma. Because charisma is inherently unstable (Weber, 1946, 1947), the major way that a religious leader can maintain such The term clergymen is used here because both of the denominations studied require that their clergy be men.