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Chapter 3 - Leading
from Part I - Recurrent Sources of Populism
Gordon Sammut, University of Malta, Martin W. Bauer, London School of Economics and Political Science
Book:

The Psychology of Social Influence

Published online:

19 December 2020

Print publication:

07 January 2021, pp 51-74
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Summary

Chapter 3 reviews leadership as a modality of social influence. It starts by reviewing the personality approach to leadership that has predominated in psychological research over the years. This approach focusses on the identification of personality traits, such as charisma, performed in the crowd situation; a trait that successful leaders have acquired in an unclear way. This is juxtaposed by the situational approach to leadership; effective leadership is contingent on particular situations which variably call for different matching traits. Both theories are critiqued in light of normative models of leadership which account for the sticky resilience of dictatorships in various countries around the world even in the face of opportunities for instituting or restituting democracy. The chapter closes withthe social identity approach to leadership and paternalism, arguing that effective leadership is contingent on the interplay between leaders and the consent of followers.