The of the hierarchy It is a common action or practice that is carried out in various fields, areas, subjects, among others, and that consists of organize or classify them into different levels. It includes the process by which a system is designed based on some type of ladder.
Basically the hierarchy it is the organization through categories that present different importance and that therefore attribute different relevance and values to hierarchical people or things. The clergy, the army or the traditional business are examples of this model. In this type of organization, a criterion of subordination is imposed on the set of individuals that make up a group.
Various criteria are established to carry out the ranking, which may have to do with the class, the typology or any other determining issue that allows the classification to be developed.
It will always imply an organization that goes from the bottom up, that is, the positions that are lower in the scale will be the least important and valued, then they will have less importance in relation to those higher or to the one that is immediately. above, which will obviously be of greater importance.
It should be noted that those positions that are at the top of the hierarchy will have a higher power or authority than those that are at lower levels. For this reason, whoever is in a higher hierarchy may, as far as allowed, order someone who is in a lower position to carry out an activity or fulfill a task.
It fulfills an administrative function
Let's think of a multinational with the following authority model: a general manager as the maximum responsible, a series of managers divided by areas (production, finance, personnel, etc.), some heads of departments (security, quality, accounting, etc.) and finally a large group of workers equally ordered on a scale from higher to lower responsibility. This model has the following general characteristics:
1) the highest authority is the one who establishes the fundamental guidelines,
2) your direct reports are responsible for implementing the guidelines and 3) those who execute the concrete actions are those at the base of the business pyramid. Obviously, at the higher levels of the hierarchy there is more responsibility, more qualification and higher remuneration.
Analyzing society scenarios
In some periods of history there has been a pyramid system of society. The Middle Ages is a paradigmatic example of this. Thus, at the base of society were the serfs, peasants and soldiers; on a higher scale were the knights, lords and clergymen of low rank; then came the nobles and high leaders of the church and finally the monarch as the supreme authority.
This hierarchy implied the absence of social mobility (if someone was born a peasant, he would be so all his life). This model weakened over time and a more flexible hierarchical system appeared, since someone was born in a social stratum but could change levels depending on their worth.
Today's society maintains a certain hierarchical structure. However, so that the hierarchy does not translate into abuses of power, there are some corrective mechanisms: equal opportunities or positive discrimination of those who are in a disadvantaged situation (for example, people with disabilities).
Anarchist ideals and hierarchies
In the history of anarchism there is a radical opposition to any form of hierarchy. This opposition can be expressed with some of the slogans of the anarchist movement: no masters or gods, no oppressors or oppressed, no god, no country, no king, no master. In short, without hierarchies.
