| Summary: | Karisma är ett fenomen som under lång tid väckt stort intresse och fascination bland människor, däribland mig själv. Däremot är begreppet aningen diffust och det har därför varit svårt att hitta en entydig definition av karisma. För att undersöka dimensionerna av karisma har jag i denna uppsats valt att undersöka karismans betydelse i dagens samhälle. Syftet med undersökningen har varit att undersöka hur fenomenet karisma som begrepp konstrueras i en bestämd social kontext i samhället idag, vilket jag har gjort genom att analysera självhjälpslitteratur i hur man ökar sin karismatiska utstrålning. De huvudsakliga frågeställningarna bakom denna undersökning omfattar bland annat hur karisma konstruerats i litteraturen, hur framställningen av karisma gett upphov till skapandet av subjekt samt att se om förändringar i samhället kommit att förändra betydelsen av karisma. Bakgrunden av undersökningen innefattar bland annat Max Webers definition av den ”genuina” karisman samt en rad andra teorier och undersökningar om karisma som försökt förklara fenomenets härkomst. Med bakgrund av detta har jag alltså studerat karisma ur ett socialkonstruktivistiskt perspektiv med hjälp av diskursanalys och funnit att de två självhjälpsböcker jag undersökt konstruerar karisma som ett multidimensionellt fenomen som alla individer har möjligheten att utveckla. Utöver denna upptäckt tyder resultaten från undersökningen även på att en decentralisering av makten i dagens samhälle har kommit att påverka hur karisma konstrueras idag. === Charisma has for long been the object for admiration and fascination among people, including myself. It has, however, been very difficult to settle for an appropriate definition of charisma since the nature of the phenomenon can be described as being quite abstract. I have in an attempt to explore the dimensions of charisma chosen to investigate its meaning in today’s society. The main goal with the investigation has been to see how the concept of charisma is constructed within a given social context, which in this case constitutes of self-help books on how to develop a charismatic personality. A few of the primary questions behind this investigation concerns how charisma is constructed within the literature, how the representation of charisma in the books leads to the development of subjects and to see whether changes within the society has contributed to a change in the meaning of charisma. The investigation is, among other things, based on Weber’s definition of the “genuine” charisma as well as several other theories and studies concerning charisma which have tried to deduce the origin of the subject. I have in relation to this analyzed charisma from the view of the social constructivist perspective, with the help of discourse analysis, and found that the two self-help books I have studied constructs charisma as a multidimensional phenomenon which everyone has the ability to develop. In addition to this discovery I also found that the result from the investigation indicates that a decentralization of power in today’s society has come to influence how charisma is constructed today. Title: What significance does charisma have in society today? – A study done from the social constructivist perspective concerning charisma in self-help literature. Charisma has for long been the object for admiration and fascination among people, including myself. It has, however, been very difficult to settle for an appropriate definition of charisma since the nature of the phenomenon can be described as being quite abstract. I have in an attempt to explore the dimensions of charisma chosen to investigate its meaning in today’s society. The main goal with the investigation has been to see how the concept of charisma is constructed within a given social context, which in this case constitutes of self-help books on how to develop a charismatic personality. A few of the primary questions behind this investigation concerns how charisma is constructed within the literature, how the representation of charisma in the books leads to the development of subjects and to see whether changes within the society has contributed to a change in the meaning of charisma. The investigation is, among other things, based on Weber’s definition of the “genuine” charisma as well as several other theories and studies concerning charisma which have tried to deduce the origin of the subject. I have in relation to this analyzed charisma from the view of the social constructivist perspective, with the help of discourse analysis, and found that the two self-help books I have studied constructs charisma as a multidimensional phenomenon which everyone has the ability to develop. In addition to this discovery I also found that the result from the investigation indicates that a decentralization of power in today’s society has come to influence how charisma is constructed today.
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