Hierarchies occur in almost all fields of endeavor, clarifying who can do what in which circumstance. Obvious examples: corporations, the military, religions. Hierarchies occur also in linguistic systems, music, biology, and in fields not usually envisioned as hierarchical. And I’ve stumbled on them in unexpected places, i.e., where we wouldn’t think one would be needed. Tentative conclusion: hierarchies are innate in human beings.
PRISON HIERARCHY
I recently learned how inmates treat their fellow prisoners. In any prison, crimes deserving the least respect are child molester and rapist, presumably because these require little skill or strength. I’ve been told that prison guards have to isolate these inmates, to protect them from being set upon by other prisoners. I suggest that guards don’t “have to” protect them, but rather they “choose” to do so. This heartless cynic would throw them in with the others, to endure their victims’ experience of being physically overpowered. I recall Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, when he sings “Let the punishment fit the crime.”
Regarding prisoners enjoying high levels of respect, opinions vary. Some would place the head of organized crime at the top (e.g., Mafia); other sources say that cop killers enjoy great respect; still others name the cat burglar, who is agile and ascends to high places, moving soundlessly. Unlike garden-variety burglaring, it must take nerves of steel to break into a home while residents are asleep or downstairs dining.
OTHER HIERARCHIES
Here in Paris, I attended a tour of one of the city’s Miracles Court (La cour des miracles). As we know, during the period spanning the late 1500s to the French Revolution, kings didn’t care much about their subjects. French cities offered refuge to those fleeing impoverished rural areas, perhaps seeking employment, or returning from battle and finding nowhere else to live. Sometimes their only chance to survive was to feign a handicap, e.g., lacking a limb, blindness, or another affliction. They would daily beg in the streets, at night returning to a “miracles court” where miraculously, their affliction would disappear. Hierarchies prevailed there, and some residents enjoyed more respect than others. Victor Hugo referred to one such court in Notre Dame de Paris.
Wikipedia articles on dominance hierarchy and gangs provide extensive detail about structures where animals compete, usually for resources and/or mating opportunities. Human groups range from street gangs to Mafia to biker gangs and narcotics. Hierarchies are economical in that the members don’t have to fight whenever two of them want the same thing. Apparently, there are costs to being at the top, such as higher metabolic rates and stress levels. An advantage to being subordinate is to avoid engaging in prolonged fights that you aren’t likely to win.
THE CULTURAL DIMENSION
I know a young woman sent to work in the Tokyo office of her London law firm. As many know, Asian societies show reverence for elders, and the oldest person in a given circumstance has the most “power.” In one instance at the firm, work remained to be done and the issue was whether the young woman or a Japanese lawyer would do it. The latter was older than she, although she was higher in rank. In other words, is one to observe the hierarchy of a British law firm or the Asian culture? Ultimately, the woman handled the task, working into the wee hours.
I once taught in a California boarding school that had a significant body of Korean students. I learned that in the dorms, any older Korean could tell a younger one what to do. We faculty were undecided about this. It later occurred to me that, by this practice, Asians internalize reverence for age, which might be useful in Western society.
When living in Bolivia long ago, I knew a young man who worked for Americans in La Paz. He would regularly surrender his earnings to his family in their village on the Altiplano. The Americans would insist that this was his money and he could keep it. So what’s the right answer?
REVERBERATIONS
Even more interesting are hierarchies that pervade other dimensions, which I learned from Aunt Mary, whose husband (my Uncle Bill) was a captain in the U.S. Navy (WWII). “Captain” is immediately under “admiral” (the highest rank), and the hierarchy among the men extended to the spouses, with the admiral’s wife enjoying the greatest prestige. Aunt Mary once checked out a book from the naval base’s library, and the admiral’s wife expressed interest in it. My gracious aunt left the book with her, and time passed with no returned book. Meanwhile, the book was overdue and my aunt was accruing a fine. I don’t recall the outcome, but suspect that the admiral’s wife didn’t pay it.
Once in South America, I heard someone say that the wife of el General was la Generala. I don’t know whether this was or is true but I wonder whether a non-military husband acquires the rank of his military wife. I know one reader who might have the answer. Contrariwise, I knew a woman who would lose her doctorate whenever she and her husband were introduced as “Dr. and Mrs. Tiffin.”
Hierachy starts early. Who hasn’t heard a little boy say, “My dad can beat up your dad!” Then grown men strive to be “the smartest guy in the room.” Perhaps the motivation is fear, that another has the power to hurt you, and will do so. Of course wealth is power, and this creates a graded structure. My conclusion is no longer tentative: hierarchies are innate throughout the animal kingdom.
CODA
Richard Rohr suggests that women prefer circles of sharing over hierarchies, opting for conversation, choosing empathy over competition, connection over performance. Are hierarchies a “guy thing”? Walter Cronkite described journalism’s way of recognizing hierarchies: those at the top will have longer obituaries, prepared well in advance. Something to strive for!