20: Critical Leadership Theory

Critical leadership studies (CLS) seek to question positivist scientific assumptions behind conventional leadership theory and to critique the ways that leadership theory and practice reproduce exclusionary power relationship and capitalist ideology. Early theorists of CLS initially delivered broad sweeping critiques of hegemonic mass cultural and leadership. However, contemporary theories now provide more nuanced accounts of how macro and micro power relationships influence individual and group identities, as well as the interplay between material reality and broader societal structures. This chapter explores the history and context around CLS, defines the area, and concludes with strengths and opportunities of it.