![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This article investigates a neglected aspect of charismatic authority: the problem of economic practices of charismatic leaders and their communities. Drawing on Weber’s classical theory of charisma, I argue that charismatic communities and their ideologies economically operate on principles of gift and bounty. I demonstrate the value of this analysis on a contemporary case of Elon Musk’s charisma and his involvement with the Dogecoin cryptocurrency through Twitter. Through analysis of Musk’s performances and his admirers’ online activity, I argue that to those who believed in Musk, his involvement constituted either a gift to the community or a bounty-hunter-like feat that further enhanced his charismatic authority.
Acknowledgements
The article benefited from the feedback received at the meeting of the Sociology of Culture Research Network of the European Sociological Association in Sofia. I am furthermore thankful for the comments of Werner Binder, Karel Němeček, and two anonymous reviewers of the Journal of Cultural Economy.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Privately, Weber used the term as early as 1910 in a letter to Dora Jellinek to describe Stefan George’s authority over his circle of admirers (Tribe Citation2017).
2 Musk’s tweet became reality a year later, when Tesla (later also SpaceX) began to accept payments in Dogecoin.
3 ‘Shorting’ or ‘short selling’ in financial jargon refers to the practice of betting that the price of an asset will take a downward trajectory.