Iván Szelényi's Yale lecture, part of Foundations of Modern Social Theory, lays out Max Weber's account of authority as an alternative to Marx's economic determinism. Weber holds that history moves through modes of authority rather than modes of production, and that leaders secure domination by combining raw power with legitimacy. Szelényi works through Weber's four types of social action, his concept of rationality, and the distinction between power and legitimacy before arriving at the three classic types of domination: traditional, charismatic, and legal-rational. The session opens with a review of second-test questions before moving into the main material. Recorded at Yale in Fall 2009 as lecture seventeen of the course, it gives a systematic classroom treatment of a foundational sociological framework still used to analyze political and organizational authority.