Petty authority is authority exercised by a leader, frequently unchosen by the led, in a relatively limited or intimate environment, such as that exercised by a teacher over students in a classroom. It is a pejorative term, that carries with it a sense of authority that was gained, or is used, in an unfair or arbitrary manner. In common usage, leadership generally refers to: the position or office of an authority figure, such as a President [1] a group of influential people, such as a union leadership [2] guidance or direction, as in the phrase the emperor is not providing much leadership capacity or ability to lead... External links LEd Category: TeX ... A teachers room in a Japanese middle school, 2005. ... Look up pejorative in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...