James V. Downton
James Victor Downton Jr. is a sociologist known for his research on charismatic leadership, activism, and new religious movements. He received his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1968 with his thesis, Rebel leadership: revisiting the concept of charisma, a subject he developed more fully in his 1973 book, Rebel Leadership: Commitment and Charisma in the Revolutionary Process. He was the first to coin the term "transformational leadership", a concept further developed by James MacGregor Burns, and one of the key concepts in leadership research over the past 25 years.
In 1982 Downton was a panel member of the Institute of Behavioral Science. In 1997 Downton was a reviewer for the American Sociological Review.
He taught for many years at the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he is now professor emeritus of sociology. In 1996, Downton received the Boulder Faculty Assembly Teaching Excellence Award. He was also one of the founders and director of the university's International and National Voluntary Service Training program. Following his retirement in 2004, the university established the Jim Downton Scholarship, awarded to two students each year in the Community Leadership Program.
Selected bibliography
;BooksSacred journeys: The conversion of young Americans to Divine Light Mission Columbia University Press. Perspectives on Political Philosophy with David K Hart, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.; Volume II edition,- * Perspectives on Political Philosophy Volume I: Thucydides through Machiavelli
- * Perspectives on Political Philosophy Volume II: Machiavelli to Marx
- * Perspectives on Political Philoshopy. Vol. III: Marx Through Marcuse ,The Persistent Activist: How Peace Commitment Develops and Survives, with Paul Ernest Wehr, Westview,, The Woo Way: A New Way of Living and Being, Green Dragon Books, Playful Mind: Bringing Creativity to Life, Green Dragon Books, Awakening Minds: The Power of Creativity in Teaching, Green Dragon Books, Blooming: Teaching of a Woo Master, Green Dragon Books, Why Am I So DAMN Unhappy?: And What to Do About It Robert Reed Publisher, Today, I will...Words to Inspire Life Changes, Blue Mountain Arts, Screwing Up Love or How to Make Love Grow and Last Create Space,