Paul Joosse

The University of Hong Kong | HKU · Department of Sociology

Working beyond latently Durkheimian figurations of moral panic which depict a dialectic between 'right-thinkers' and folk devils, this article integrates charismatic entrepreneurs into a tripartite model that sheds light on two new pathways of interaction that are relevant for the sociology of morality. First, charismatic leaders can outflank tradi...

While several studies have explored the interactional dynamics of charismatic power, most have neglected the role of what Weber termed the charismatic aristocracy. This article revives the classical concept to respond to contemporary calls for performative, follower-centric approaches to charisma. Specifically, the charismatic aristocracy is placed...

This article conducts a negative reading of Weber’s ideal type of charismatic authority, seeking to anticipate and discern hidden social interactants that are implicated in his descriptions of charismatic social processes. In so doing, this article advances the “charismatic counter-role” as an umbrella term that captures the performative bearing of...

Working from a narrative criminological framework, this article distinguishes and describes the ‘narrative of rebellion’ as a generic form that can be encountered widely in situations of asymmetrical struggle. Because narratives of rebellion furnish their tellers with agentic potential across various stages of the ‘rebellious career’ (from contempl...

Working beyond the inclination to inaugurate alternative theoretical traditions alongside canonical sociology, this article demonstrates the value of recovering latent gender theory from within classic concepts-in this case, Weber's "charisma." Close readings of Weber reveal, (a) tools for theorizing extraordinary, non-masculinist agency, and, (b)...

Policing is legitimized in different ways in authoritarian and democratic states. In East and Southeast Asia, different regime types to a greater or lesser extent determine the power of the police and their complex relationship with the rule of law. This volume examines the evolution of the police as a key political institution from a historical pe...

Moving beyond frameworks of charisma scholarship that stress antagonism between charisma and establishment society, this article discerns and theoretically accounts for more mutualistic forms of influence between charismatic leaders and elite representatives of traditional or rational-legal institutions. Specifically, we combine contemporary work i...

While much of work on homicide-suicide (HS) arises out of the USA and the UK, there is a paucity of research on HS outside of the Anglo-American sphere. This paper investigates HS in Hong Kong (HK), comparing the subtypes of filicide-suicide (FS) and mariticide/uxoricide-suicide (MUS) in that context as a means of testing the generalizability of pa...

Many coastal cities regulate shipping emissions within their jurisdictions. However, the transboundary nature of air pollution makes such efforts largely ineffective unless they are accompanied by reciprocal, legally-binding regulation agreements with neighbouring cities. Due to various technical, economic, and institutional barriers, it has thus f...

This paper explores the role anger plays in charismatic movements. Although scholars have long recognized the importance of emotions to the etiology of charisma, they tend to focus on mutual affection among leaders and followers, paying less attention to how anger—and particularly its subspecies, ressentiment—patterns charismatic power. Drawing on...

The devilish has long been integral to myths, legends, and folklore, firmly located in the relationships between good and evil, and selves and others. But how are ideas of evil constructed in current times and framed by contemporary social discourses? Modern Folk Devils builds on and works with Stanley Cohen’s theory on folk devils and moral panics...

Many countries promote urban agglomeration to enhance economic competitiveness, but the impacts of this strategy on local climate adaptation remain poorly understood. Here, we use variation in greenspaces to test the effectiveness of climate adaptation policy across climate impacts and vulnerability dimensions. Using satellite imagery and logistic...

To better address climate unpredictability, green infrastructure is increasingly deployed alongside gray infrastructure as an alternative strategy for flood risk mitigation. Previous research has not clearly distinguished the flood-mitigation effects of green infrastructure at the local scale due to its complex range of functions including socioeco...

Using interview data from protesters and frontline police, this article examines the evolution of protest policing, from ‘soft’ to ‘hard’ models, amid the recent unrest in Hong Kong. While ‘police-centric’ explanations in the protest policing literature tend to conceive of police as intentional decision makers who can choose among a variety of stra...

Working beyond latently Durkheimian figurations of moral panic which depict a dialectic between ‘right-thinkers’ and folk devils, this article integrates charismatic entrepreneurs into a tripartite model that sheds light on two new pathways of interaction that are relevant for the sociology of morality. First, charismatic leaders can outflank tradi...

Working beyond latently Durkheimian fgurations of moral panic which depict a dialectic between 'right-thinkers' and folk devils, this article integrates charismatic entrepreneurs into a tripartite model that sheds light on two new pathways of interaction that are relevant for the sociology of morality. First, charismatic leaders can outflank tradit...

This article conducts a negative reading of Weber’s ideal type of charismatic authority, seeking to anticipate and discern hidden social interactants that are implicated in his descriptions of charismatic social processes. In so doing, this article advances the “charismatic counter-role” as an umbrella term that captures the performative bearing of...

While several studies have explored the interactional dynamics of charismatic power, most have neglected the role of what Weber termed the charismatic aristocracy. This article revives the classical concept to respond to contemporary calls for performative, followercentric approaches to charisma. Specifically, the charismatic aristocracy is placed...

“Leaderless resistance” and “lone wolf terrorism” are concepts that have steadily gained importance in the study of oppositional subcultures and terrorist groups, being used to describe the operational realities of a variety of terrorisms, from groups like Al Qaeda to Anders Breivik. In this article, I seek to describe leaderless resistance as a rh...

Recently, the Somali diaspora has found itself at the centre of heightened security concerns surrounding the proliferation of international terrorist networks and their recruitment strategies. These concerns have reached new levels since the absorption of al-Shabaab into al-Qaeda in 2012. Based on a qualitative analysis of interviews with 118 membe...

Recently, the Somali Diaspora has found itself at the centre of heightened security concerns surrounding the proliferation of international terrorist networks and their recruitment strategies. These concerns have reached new levels since the absorption of al-Shabaab into al-Qaeda in 2012. Based on a qualitative analysis of interviews with 118 membe...

This article seeks to demonstrate that implicit within Weber’s writings on charisma are tools that can enable a processual, social constructionist understanding of charismatic formation. A corollary of this point is that Weber’s writings represent an historically crucial turning point in the progression from a Carlylian idea of leaders as inhere...

Since 1992, clandestine radical environmentalist cells, calling themselves the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), have carried out arson attacks in an effort to punish corporations for environmentally deleterious practices. I examine the radical environmental movement and find that its recent rise to prominence and notoriety is part and parcel of the la...

Taking inspiration from Goffman's dramaturgical metaphor of sociality, this article explores the dynamics involved in the presentation of the charismatic self in everyday life, with a focus on the new religious movement led by John de Ruiter. The concept of "the everyday" was central to the thought of both Erving Goffman and Max Weber, and I illust...

Over the past decade and a half, North America has seen a rash of environmentally motivated arsons. One group in particular, the clandestine Earth Liberation Front (ELF), has targeted ski resorts, genetic research labs, SUV dealerships, and forestry buildings, leading James Jarboe of the FBI to declare the ELF the “number one” domestic terrorist th...

Leaderless resistance is a strategy of opposition that allows for and encourages individuals or small cells to engage in acts of political violence entirely independent of any hierarchy of leadership or network of support. This article examines the development of the leaderless resistance strategy by the radical right and more recently by the radic...

Charismatic authority, as Max Weber originally conceived it, is predicated on followers’ perceptions that their leader possesses superhuman or extraordinary powers. This article points to a novel link between silence and charismatic authority by examining the new religious movement (NRM) led by John de Ruiter and showing the important role that int...

"Fall, 2006." "A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Department of Sociology." Thesis (M.A.)--University of Alberta, 2006. Includes bibliographical references.