Leadership rests on reciprocal imitation, each following because others follow

Evidence

Leadership is based – and here we are referring back to research on group theory – on increasing willingness to follow, as based on the experience that others are also following; in other words, it is based on imitation. Some, then, accept influence because others are doing so and the latter accept influence because the former do so. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 738

Categorization

• XREF: The circular follow-because-following dynamic parallels how Stevens’s deference was mirrored by the other staff — the household’s leader-follower structure is self-reinforcing rather than grounded in any independent authority. — connects to: Leaders are accepted only when embodying features shared with followers — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 153; Leaders lead by representing a consensus that shared identity makes possible. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 67; Leaders lack direct power; followership grants them agency. — Stephen Reicher, S. Alexander Haslam, and Nick Hopkins, Social identity and the dynamics of…, 103 (+6 more)