The paper revisits Weber's theory of political charisma and outlines a profound critique. Theoretical progress is made by reconstructing Norbert Elias’ theory of charisma from unpublished manuscripts from the Elias-Archive in Marbach, Germany. Elias claimed that political charisma is a group phenomenon: a group ‘charismatizes’ an individual as a person who represents the minority of their best. Charismatic individuals gain acceptance as a symbolic representatives of their groups and are placed into opposition to other groups, creating specific dynamics in intra- and inter-group configurations. A charismatic leader is supported by a group poised to status ascendance that creates its own group charisma and contrasts its identity against lower ranked status groups, which are locked into inferior positions by pejorative stereotypes of disgrace. Elias’ theory of political charisma offers an innovative perspective on power in social networks and has relevance for research on national pride, populism, campaigning, social movements, etc.
