James V. Downton

Who is 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.