Hierarchy

Hierarchy is a term that refers to a system of ranking in which every level, except the highest and lowest, has at least one level above and one level below. The implication is that the higher things are in the ranking system, the more value, power, influence, or importance they have. Many different things can be ranked in hierarchies; the term is applied to people, animals, things, ideas, etc., and the concept is used in social science, science, and other fields. Hierarchies can be formal, as in government and civic organizations, or informal, as they often are in social groups and other casual organizations. They can also occur naturally, as they do in the worlds of plants and wild animals. Hierarchies are important because they help in decision making; knowing what idea or concept is more important can help in deciding which should have priority. Where people are concerned, hierarchies help individuals understand where they are in relation to others, what their path is to change places in the hierarchy, and how to interact with others.

Background

The word hierarchy comes from two Greek words: hieros, which means "supernatural" or "holy," and arckhes, which means "ruler." These two words were originally combined to form the word hierarckhes, which meant "sacred ruler." The word originally referred to the ranking of angels and heavenly beings. Eventually, the word moved into Medieval Latin, then Old French and Middle English, and by the seventeenth century, it came to refer to the ranking of other groups. It particularly referred to the structure of Christian churches, which had different orders of clergymen, including bishops, priests, and deacons; this usage was first recorded around 1610.

The term has since come into common use in many different fields and disciplines. Scientific fields, including biology, botany, and astronomy, rank things in hierarchies. In mathematics, it refers to a partially ordered set. Social scientists study how many different groups of people form and act in hierarchies, from children on the playground to the military to employees of a company.

Three experts in several different fields are associated with developing theories of hierarchy. American economist and political and social scientist Herbert A. Simon developed a theory related to how the hierarchy of goals and participants in an organization affects the decisions made by the members of the organization. Belgian chemist Ilya Romanovich Prigogine developed a theory of dissipative structure related to how complex systems in science are organized. Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget developed a theory that dealt with how children understand structure and hierarchies.

Overview

There are different forms of hierarchical structures. They generally involve a pyramid-like structure of levels, in which each level except the bottom level is a step above another. In many situations, the levels of a hierarchical structure get smaller as the levels get higher; for instance, the hierarchical structure of an army will have many members at the lowest level of enlisted men and successively fewer as the levels of authority increase.

Hierarchies can also be nested or non-nested. Nested hierarchies have sub-hierarchies within the larger structure. For instance, a school will have a hierarchy in which students are at the lowest level of authority, teachers and support staff are in another higher level, and administrators are at the highest level. However, within each class of students, hierarchies are likely to form in which some students receive greater respect than others do. At the teacher and staff level, there may be department heads who have more authority than others. At the administrator level, an assistant principal will be a step below a principal. These sub-hierarchies are nested within the overall hierarchical structure of the school.

Many species of animals, including humans, seem to gravitate naturally toward a hierarchical structure. Researchers have determined that many animals such as wolves, large cat species such as lions and tigers, and others form organizational structures within their groups, with one animal serving as leader. Human beings are also prone to developing hierarchies; the formation of levels of social interaction has been observed in children as young as two years of age.

Hierarchies can be formed in many different aspects of human life. As noted, children can form hierarchical structures in which certain children routinely choose and organize how the children play and who gets to use toys or other desired objects first. Later, people tend to organize and view themselves in hierarchical structures based on intelligence, skills such as athletic or academic ability, finances, employment status, and even physical traits such as appearance and size.

Furthermore, humans apply hierarchical structure to other things as a means of judging and helping with the decision-making process. For instance, items as diverse as movies, restaurants, and online purchases are often ranked by a "star" or other rating system that helps people decide which one is "better" than another. This method of ranking automatically sorts the things in question into a hierarchy.

Researchers believe that humans have biological systems in the neural network of the brain that process and form these hierarchical rankings. Some experts have begun conducting experiments to understand this process better. It is thought that understanding how the brain processes these hierarchies is important because hierarchies play such a large role in many aspects of human life. For instance, how a person feels about his or her place in the family, social circle, or employment hierarchy can have a profound influence on physical and mental health.

Despite the usefulness of hierarchies, they are sometimes thought of as restrictive. People sometimes wish they could be free of hierarchies and that everyone could be seen as equal to everyone else. However, this seems to be an ideal attainable only in very small organizations, such as small companies, or among the members of subgroups of a larger hierarchy, such as siblings or cousins.

Bibliography

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Montzka, Harold W. The Separation of Heaven and Earth: The Advent of Social Hierarchy and Its Implications.Trafford Publishing, 2010, pp. 51–65.

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Salthe, S.N. “Summary of the Principles of Hierarchy Theory.” Nov. 2001, www.nbi.dk/~natphil/salthe/Summary‗of‗the‗Principles‗o.pdf. Accessed 6 Dec. 2024.  

Simon, Herbert. Administrative Behavior: A Study of Decision-Making Processes in Administrative Organizations. MacMillian Publishing, 1957.

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