Domination

Domination Definition

Domination is, in its general sense, the power exerted by one person or group over another — the domination of the old over the young, for instance, or of men over women. In Max Weber’s more specific usage (1922), where it translates the German Herrschaft, domination is “the likelihood that a command within a given organization or society will be obeyed.” Understood this way, it is a form of power, but one logically distinct from the sheer imposition of one person’s will on another, and it always involves an element of legitimation.

Domination and Power

Weber carefully distinguished domination from power (Macht), which he defined as the capacity of a social actor to impose his or her will on others despite their resistance. Domination is narrower and more institutional: it concerns commands that are routinely obeyed, whether through brute coercion or because those subject to the power accept it as legitimate. Weber further distinguished domination “by virtue of authority” from economic forms of domination, in which an actor who is formally free and pursuing their own goals is nevertheless so constrained that they can in practice act only in one way.

The Three Types of Legitimate Domination

Weber identified three pure types of “legitimate domination” — today more often called types of authority — classified by the grounds on which their claims to legitimacy rest. Rational-legal domination claims legitimacy from a generally agreed set of rules and procedures, and finds its characteristic embodiment in bureaucracy. Traditional domination bases legitimacy on continuity over time — the sanctity of custom and established ways. Charismatic domination rests on the extraordinary personal qualities of a leader, whose followers obey out of devotion to the person rather than to rules or tradition. The concept connects closely with bureaucracy, charisma, and the broader analysis of legitimacy.