As the population of humankind expanded, a need for guidance and a leader at some point

had become a necessity too. Because, as the amount of people increased so did the number of
opinions they have, at least ten times of it. Since taking actions according to everyone’s opinions will
not have any outcomes, there must be a leader.

In the given example, the shipwrecked cruisers are also in the search for a new leader after
their current leader, the captain’s death. There are three candidates for the captain’s now empty
chair and each of them represents one of the legitimacy types of authority according to Weber.

First type that is called traditional authority by Weber, is represented by the son of the
captain in the given scenario. The son claims that he must be the next leader of the group because of
his father. Since the captain, his father, was an accepted leader among the cruisers then naturally his
son can and should be accepted as the new one. This type of legitimization of authority has been
used by dynasties during their reigns for centuries in monarchies. When the current king died, the
second one had always been his son and this situation had always seen as natural for the subjects of
the king. The matter of previous king or the ruler being chosen is not important, and most of the time
he is not chosen either. Because in those times the concept of democracy is quite stranger to people.
So, the first candidate, the captain’s son, can legitimize his wanted authority by this approach by
Weber.

Second type which is represented by the most good-looking and popular among the group is
charismatic authority. In this type of authorities, opposite to the traditional authority, the possible
ruler is not expected to be related to the previous one or to be their son or daughter because matter
of an inheritance is not on the table. As long as the candidate for the chair is charismatic and loved
enough by the audience to earn the position, that is enough for the candidate to have what s/he
want. So, if the second candidate could manage to sustain his/her already made impact on the rest of
the group, s/he can take what s/he wanted. Because s/he is already in their hearts, also being their
leader shouldn’t be that hard.

The third and the last candidate is a solid example of bureaucratic authority or legal-rational
authority. The third candidate is not related to the captain, is not the most good-looking or
charismatic person among the group but s/he is chosen by the shipwrecked cruisers as a
representative way before the captain died. According to Weber, bureaucratic authority processes
way too slower than traditional or charismatic authority because there is always too much work to
do. In order to choose a person to represent or rule themselves, people vote on the convenient
candidate who had been get through all the red tape even before s/he must get through if s/he is
selected. So, a candidate who could use legal-rational authority as a way of legitimization of their
authority is the strongest candidate among all, in today’s world. All in all, the last candidate can
freely use legal-rational authority from Weber’s theory to support his/her authority.