The Charismatic Personality

374 Pages·2010·2.267 MB·English

by  Oakes, Len

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A valuable addition to the study of charisma, Len Oakes’ profile of the T
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detailed biographies.
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Associate Professor John Potts, author of A History of Charisma
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about the lives of charismatic characters, scientific investigation s u Hitler
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of the phenomena is rare. In this book psychologist Len Oakes m Personafallseistty Gr
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case studies and reviews of individuals such as Winston Churchill, P
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Germaine Greer, Girolamo Savonarola, Mao Tse-tung and Franklin
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creative, problem-solving strategy that is resorted to in extremis, o olf e
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when it is successful it is spectacularly so, and may give birth to a a u
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A much-needed insightful and accessible exploration. Oakes is the right y d
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André van der Braak, PhD, author of Enlightenment Blues: D
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Len Oakes, PhD, completed his doctorate in psychology at the University of Auckland, n
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New Zealand. His previous books include Inside Centrepoint:The Story of a New Zealand lf
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Communityand Prophetic Charisma:The Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities. t Hitler
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He has been a registered psychologist for 21 years and a therapist in general practice for a
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16 years. Currently, he is in private practice as a psychologist in Melbourne,Australia. k
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Dr Len Oakes li lli l
The
Charismatic
Personality
Dr Len Oakes
First published in 2010
Australian Academic Press
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Bowen Hills Qld 4006
Australia
www.australianacademicpress.com.au
Len Oakes © 2010
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National Library of Australia cataloguing-in-publication entry:
Author: Oakes, Len.
Title: The charismatic personality / Len Oakes.
ISBN: 9781921513473 (ebook)
Notes: Bibliography.
Subjects: Charisma (Personality trait)
Leadership.
Leadership--Psychological aspects.
Leadership--Religious aspects.
Political leadership.
Dewey Number: 303.34
To Noeline and Sefronia
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vii Introduction
Part One: Theory and Case Studies
1 Chapter 1
Varieties of Charismatic Experience
12 Chapter 2
Winston Churchill: An Exemplar
31 Chapter 3
The Psychoanalytic Perspective
51 Chapter 4
The Charismatic Intellectual: Sigmund Freud
78 Chapter 5
Perspectives From Psychology and Psychiatry
96 Chapter 6
The False Self of Adolf Hitler
131 Chapter 7
The Rise of the Charismatic Leader
156 Chapter 8
Decline or Fall?
Part Two: An Exploration of Charismatic Forms
181 Chapter 9
The Charismatic Relationship
204 Chapter 10
The Charismatic Movement
221 Chapter 11
The Charismatic Woman
continued over
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continued
(cid:129) (cid:129) (cid:129)
241 Chapter 12
The Charismatic Alliance: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt
260 Chapter 13
Cosmic Narcissism
287 Chapter 14
Other Enabling Traits
Part Three: Conclusion
311 Chapter 15
‘He was a monster, but …’
323 Appendix A
325 References
343 Index
vi (cid:129) (cid:129) (cid:129)
(cid:129) (cid:129) (cid:129)
t is odd that so many use the word ‘charisma’ without under-
standing its meaning. Perhaps they think that something so
apparently magical and mysterious cannot be understood.
Nevertheless, this book is about charisma; charismatic personalities,
leaders, followers and movements, and the stance taken is that
charisma is not magical or mysterious, it can be analysed, and that it
tells us something profound about human nature. However, while it
would be nice to synthesise extensive and wide-ranging research,
unfortunately there has been so little rigorous investigation of
charisma that such an effort would have only specialist appeal.
Instead, this book aims to provide a general overview of the topic,
and it draws from a range of disciplines from theology to psycho-
analysis to provide a comprehensive account.
From historical and biblical sources and from sociological theory,
an outline of the function of charismatic leaders and their move-
ments is presented. From the biographies of charismatic personalities
an analysis of their psychological natures and development is con-
structed, and this is in turn filtered through psychoanalytic theory to
probe their underlying motivations. From investigations into new
religions and other social movements an understanding of the social-
psychological dynamics of charisma is presented. From research into
organisations and corporate leadership these perspectives are
expanded, and from insider accounts by followers, an understanding
of the meanings of charismatic relationships is provided. Such an
overview may not satisfy purists from any of these disciplines, but
hopefully it may inform a wider audience.
The argument advanced is that charismatic personalities are differ-
ent from the general population in important ways, and that they are
used by communities and societies to solve problems that reason and tra-
dition have failed to answer. Hence, charismatic leadership is a creative,
problem-solving strategy that is resorted to in extremis, and that the
(cid:129) (cid:129) (cid:129) vii
THE CHARISMATIC PERSONALITY
reason why it so often disappoints is partly because of the magnitude of
the problems it is called upon to address. However, when it is successful
it may be spectacularly so, and give birth to a new civilisation or religion.
The book is organised so that theory is balanced with case studies.
Concepts from the scholarly literature are complemented with observa-
tions and ideas developed by the author, and examples are presented
from historical and biographical material. The book is based on three
major case studies: Winston Churchill, Sigmund Freud and Adolf Hitler.
Later, several other figures are considered, including Mohandas Gandhi,
Nelson Mandela, Germaine Greer, Girolamo Savonarola, Mao Tse-tung
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. These case studies and vignettes are one-
dimensional, highlighting only the charismatic aspects, and are not
intended to be comprehensive representations of these figures. The
example of Churchill is returned to often because he epitomised so many
of the central characteristics of charisma.
Part One outlines a theory of the psychology of charismatic person-
alities. The first chapter provides a brief overview of how the notion of
charisma has been used in social and psychological theory, while the
second chapter presents the case study of Churchill. Chapter Three
introduces psychoanalytic insights from the work of Heinz Kohut, and
this relates back to the case study of Churchill and forward to the follow-
ing case study, that of Sigmund Freud presented at Chapter Four.
Chapter 5 extends the theoretical ambit to psychiatry and scientific
psychology, and it especially addresses aspects of pathology that are rele-
vant to charisma. This prepares the way for Chapter 6, which is a case
study of an overtly pathological charismatic personality, Adolf Hitler.
These particular case studies are chosen primarily because significant
new material has recently emerged about them, specifically the biogra-
phy of Winston Churchill’s mother by Charles Higham (2006), the
biography of Martha Freud by Katja Behling (2005), and the ground-
breaking books on Hitler by Lothar Machtan (2002), David Lewis
(2004) and Fritz Redlich (2000).1
Chapters 7 and 8 bring all this material together into a ‘natural his-
tory’ of the charismatic personality that describes the various life stages
and major themes of charismatic development.
viii (cid:129) (cid:129) (cid:129)
INTRODUCTION
Part Two covers topics that derive from or expand these themes, and
discusses the theory of Max Weber, who introduced the notion of
charisma into sociology. Chapter 9 discusses the charismatic relationship
of leader and follower. Chapter 10 considers charismatic movements and
it is followed by chapters on charismatic women, the charismatic alliance
and saintly charisma, each with appropriate case studies. A chapter on
some remaining relevant aspects including charismatic communication,
creativity, memory, social insight and the psychology of the will is pre-
sented to round out the subject. The book concludes with some
evaluative observations.
Some additional explanatory notes are in order.
Currently, many scholars abjure the ‘great man’ theory of history
(Worsley, 1970), most closely identified with historian Thomas Carlyle
(2007). American historian Richard Pells put this fashion very well when
he wrote:
Ordinary readers (which means book buyers) are fascinated
by the biographies of political and military leaders. They
continue to believe charismatic personalities affect a
country’s destiny. Professional historians have long since
abandoned that idea as a delusion. Instead, for the past 30
years, they have told us that the intricacies of social history
are the key to explaining a nation’s identity and develop-
ment. (Pells, 2008)
Such a stance is, I believe, most sustainable among those who have never
actually met a charismatic personality. To do so is to discover that they
really are different; that they possess a mysterious ‘presence’ that others
lack, along with several other extraordinary attributes. This is not to say
that they dominate the world to such a degree that social history has no
influence on society; of course it does. But this matter should not be
reduced to an illusory either/or choice. Charismatic personalities are also
products of their environments; but at certain critical points in history,
the presence or absence of a particular person at the wheels of power
may prove crucial. Despite the claims of Pells and others, in some disci-
plines such as political studies, the existence of strong personalities who
are able to influence history has long been a taken-for-granted reality.
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