<論文>カリスマ的関係について : 非対称的関係の転倒

Abstract

The term charisma generally refers to the power of an extraordinarily gifted individual to attract followers. However, it has not been clearly defined in technical terms. The uniqueness of charismatic community can be understood by reference to the mechanism whereby charismatic relations are produced and reproduced. Charismatic community undergoes self-transformation or self-destruction through infinite textualization of the charismatic person's words and actions. An extraordinary experience of commitment to the other can bear an abundance of meanings. However if a shared meaning of the experience becomes collectively coded and routinised, it forms the basis for defining a community, and at the same time, provides a normative frame within which the collective experience is predefined. The community norm has two functions. First, it circumscribes and structures the meanings derived from the extraordinary experiences with the charismatic figure. Second, it defines the boundary between inner community and outer noncommunity. In a charismatic community, the charismatic person is the source of the community norm. Therefore it preserves the place for the extraordinary encounter with the charisma. In short there is a dynamic interaction between charismatic authority and community norm; through arbitrary narrative and action, the charismatic figure simultanously generates new meanings and destructures prior meanings. The community norm in turn strives to impose limits and structure on this process. Second, participation in the community requires acceptance of the charismatic experience as an aprior reality. For those who do not share in the experience of community, the charismatic relationship appears to be based on definition by the followers. For those who share the norm, outsiders seem to .be blind to the explicit fact of the charisma. Therefore the insiders's self-representation is an inverse of the outsider's representation of the insider. The outsider perceives the charismatic relationship as a reversed, asymmetrical social relation which conceals collective representation of a certain person as a source of the community norm. For the outsider, the charismatic relationship is derived from collective circumscription of charisma, which is represented by the charismatic figure.