The Authority of Public Opinion–why Weber declined to take part in the conversation

During the second half of the19th and early 20th centuries the role of public opinion became a focus of debate for political and social theorists. Although sociologists disagreed whether public opinion was a threat to order they agreed that it exercised an important influence on the working of modern authority. Yet despite his interest in the substantive issues raised in this debate, Max Weber wrote very little about public opinion. His silence on this subject is surprising since public opinion was widely represented as essential for the legitimation of political rule. This essay argues that Weber's reluctance to take part in this conversation may have been influenced by the irresolvable questions raised by the ascendancy of public opinion for his theory of domination.