Age, sex, and kinship hierarchies predate humans across primates.

Evidence

The evolutionary perspective suggests that not only will humans tend to live in groupbased and hierarchically organized social systems, but that this form of social organization should also tend to be found among other species closely related to humans. Studies of other primate species tend to support this expectation (e.g., Bercovitch, 1991; Mazur, 1985; Sapolsky, 1993, 1995). Not only do all primates within the hominoid clade (i.e., chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and baboons) have systems of social dominance, but there is a group-based nature to these systems. Several group-based primate systems outside of the hominoid clade also have a trimorphic structure not unlike that found among humans indicating that social status is a function of: (a) age—with older animals dominating younger animals (e.g., Kawanaka, 1989), (b) sex—with males dominating females (Kawanaka, 1982; Nadler, 1987; Strier, 1994; with the exception of bonobos), and (c) position in kinship and friendship groups, which might be considered rudimentary arbitrary-set systems (Rowell, 1974). — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3259

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Milgrom’s work on pre-state institutions and to the social capital readings — both also concerned with how group structure organizes status. — connects to: Age operates as an identity axis whose value depends on field and gender — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1185
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3259