Max Weber's Portfolio Assignment

Max Weber's Portfolio Assignment

In an article entitled "A Lost Decade Under the Rockefeller Drug Laws" located in The New York Times, Jake Mooney writes about how several inmates are falling victim to the harsh Rockefeller Drug Laws that were adopted into the law books in 1973 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The article focuses on the individual example of Louis Carrasquillo, who was arrested for trying to sell twenty dollars worth of crack cocaine to an undercover cop. Carrasquillo received a prison sentence of twelve and a half to twenty-five years. According to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, the penalty for selling "two ounces or more of heroin, morphine, opium, or cannabis is the same as that of a second degree murderer." Upon the adoption of this law, New York State became known as having one of the toughest laws of its kind. Even though the mandatory minimum prison sentence was reduced in 2004, Carrasquillo served the minimum sentence of twelve and a half years and was released in April 2008.

According to Max Weber's theoretical writing entitled "The Types of Legitimate Domination" from Economy and Society, Weber describes his observations of the authoritarian domination of society by developing three ideal types of authority. In Weber's theory, domination is the probability that certain commands will be obeyed by a group of people as long as the form of domination implies a minimum for voluntary compliance, or interest of obedience. Obedience (according to Weber) is defined as the action an obeying individual follows as if for his or her own sake. Inclusive to the understanding of this theory, Weber illustrates three forms of legitimate domination. Each form is based on: rational grounds, traditional grounds, and charismatic grounds. Rational grounds, or legal authority, is used when obedience is owed to the individual that is exercising the authority in a specific situation by virtue of the legality of the issued commands. Under traditional grounds, or traditional authority, obedience is given to the individual who occupies the traditionally sanctioned position of authority that is bound by tradition. Obedience that is owed to an individual by virtue of personal trust in his or her heroism or exemplary qualities is a description of charismatic grounds, or charismatic authority. However, Weber believes that historically the three types of legitmate domination have never been represented to the fullest or properly.

"A Lost Decade Under the Rockefeller Drug Laws" by Jake Mooney is a representation of Max Weber's theory of domination based on the enactment of the harsh drug laws and the rational grounds of authority. The lawmakers in New York sought out to fix the drug epidemic that was sweeping through the streets of the United States. It was the decision of the prominent authoritarian figures to enact a harsh