In the present study we are concerned exclusively with relations of authority, for these alone are part of social structure and therefore permit the systematic derivation of group conflicts from the organization of total societies and associations within them. The significance of such group conflicts rests with the fact that they are not the product of structurally fortuitous relations of power but come forth wherever authority is exercised, and that means in all societies under all historical conditions.

Authority relations are always relations of superordination and subordination. Where there are authority relations, the superordinate element is socially expected to control, by orders and commands, warnings and prohibitions, the behaviour of the subordinate elements. Such expectations attach to relatively permanent social positions rather than to the character of individuals; they are in this sense legitimate.

By virtue of this fact, they always involve specification of the persons subject to control and of the spheres within which control is permissible. Authority, as distinct from power, is never a relation of generalized control over others. Authority being a legitimate relation, non-compliance with authoritative commands can be sanctioned; it is indeed one of the functions of the legal system, and of quasi-legal customs and norms, to support the effective exercise of legitimate authority.