Abstract
The article proposes a historical-systematic reconstruction of the concept of legitimacy in Max Weber’s political and sociological thought. In the first (historical) part, opposing the thesis that there would be a rupture in Weber’s thought, it is argued that the structural dimension and the symbolic dimension are variables that have the same analytical weight in the theoretical determination of forms of domination. In the second (systematic) part, after demonstrating the prescriptive and normative content inherent in the concept of legitimacy, it will also be examined in its macro-social dimension, as a “guarantee of legitimacy”, and in its micro-social dimension, as “the foundation of legitimacy”. By analytically separating each of these aspects, Weber bequeathed us the foundations of a multi-dimensional concept of legitimacy that establishes an intrinsic link between political structures and their normative foundations.
Keywords:
Max Weber; Legitimacy; Beliefs; Institutions; Validity