Authority is the legitimate or socially approved use of power.It is the legitimate power which one person or a group holds over another. The element of legitimacy is vital to the notion of authority and is the main means by which authority is distinguished from the more general concept of power. Power can be exerted by the use of force or violence

Violence

Violence is the use of physical force to apply a state to others contrary to their wishes. violence, while often a stand-alone issue, is often the culmination of other kinds of conflict, e.g...

. Authority, by contrast, depends on the acceptance by subordinates of the right of those above them to give them orders or directive

Directive

Directive may refer to:* Directive , a legislative act of the European Union* Directive , a highly-acclaimed poem by Robert Frost...

s.

External links

• http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/AmCult/H47%236.html
• http://www.soci.canterbury.ac.nz/resources/glossary/authorit.shtml