Final answer:
Max Weber defined power as the ability to impose one's will on others and described legal-rational authority as a formal system of rules characterizing state societies, such as those found in modern bureaucracies like the United States.
Step-by-step explanation:
Max Weber, a prominent German sociologist, defined power as the ability to exercise one's will over others. This concept extends beyond personal relationships, influencing social groups, professional organizations, and especially governments. According to Weber's maxim, the state embodies a form of power known as rational-legal authority, which asserts authority through formalized and bureaucratic structures characterized by a set of rules and procedures meant to be applicable to all members of society, ideally regardless of social status or identity.
For example, the legal system of a nation-state like the United States is built on the principle that certain rights, such as voting, are based on legal citizenship and not on one's class, gender, or ethnicity. This illustrates how legal-rational authority operates within state societies. However, legal and political systems also reserve the right to define and sometimes restrict these legal rights, thereby exerting control over individuals and maintaining the hierarchical structure of power within the society.
Weber identified three distinct types of authority in his classifications: traditional authority, charismatic authority, and legal-rational authority. The latter is most associated with the modern nation-state, where the bureaucracy enforces and legitimizes the state's authority through laws and formal procedures rather than through individual personalities or customs.