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Difficulty: MediumLegitimacy: Meaning, Determinants, and Maintenance

A political leader whose supreme authority is derived purely from long-standing cultural customs and ancestral hereditary succession is relying on legal-rational legitimacy.

Answer: Answer

Answer

The statement is false because authority anchored in long-standing cultural customs and hereditary succession represents traditional legitimacy, whereas legal-rational legitimacy rests on codified constitutional laws and formal legal procedures.
Authority derived from ancestral customs and hereditary succession is the hallmark of traditional legitimacy (such as in traditional monarchies), whereas legal-rational legitimacy requires authority to be grounded in constitutional provisions, election laws, and impersonal legal codes.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the source of authority described in the statement
The statement describes authority rooted in long-standing custom, cultural traditions, and ancestral heredity.
Determining the origin of political obedience is necessary to classify the type of legitimacy.
2
Apply Max Weber's typology of political legitimacy
Authority derived from tradition and custom is classified as traditional legitimacy, while authority derived from written law and constitutional rules is legal-rational legitimacy.
Differentiating between Weberian categories establishes correct conceptual boundaries.
3
Evaluate the statement's claim
Because the statement mislabels traditional legitimacy as legal-rational legitimacy, the statement is false.
Inherited customary rule does not meet the definition of constitutional legal-rational authority.

Key Concept

Types of Political Legitimacy (Traditional vs. Legal-Rational)
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Topics

Legitimacy: Meaning, Determinants, and Maintenance

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