We need to talk about hierarchy

Most of us intuitively understand hierarchies as relationships of power and superiority/inferiority (etymologically, “-archy” has to do with rule/authority): these are domination hierarchies. Higher is better, lower is worse: a zero-sum mindset is assumed, and value-judgments follow. This is how our culture is structured, because domination hierarc... See more

Developmental hierarchies I think are where our movements currently struggle the most. I’ve been searching for a long time for a way to talk about this that does justice to the nuance and complexity that exists here, and haven’t really found it…

Nested hierarchies are different: they contain no value judgments, no better/worse or superior/inferior. Rather, they describe a set of relationships, often correlated to scale. In biology this is the hierarchical logic of Kingdom-Phylum-Class-Order-Family-Genus-Species. Though this is often graphically depicted as top-down (and thus looks similar ... See more