Artificial hierarchies compensate for the loss of real hierarchy in rationalized society

Evidence

Freud gives an exhaustive account of the hierarchical element in irrational groups. ‘It is obvious that a soldier takes his superior, that is, really, the leader of the army, as his ideal, while he identifies himself with his equals, and derives from this community of their egos the obligations for giving mutual help and for sharing possessions which comradeship implies. But he becomes ridiculous if he tries to identify himself with the general’, to wit, consciously and directly. The fascists, down to the last small-time demagogue, continuously emphasize ritualistic ceremonies and hierarchical differentiations. The less hierarchy within the set-up of a highly rationalized and quantified industrial society is warranted, the more artificial hierarchies with no objective raison d’etre are built up and rigidly imposed by fascists for purely psycho-technical reasons. — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 194

Categorization

• CANDY: Counterintuitive inversion: the less objective hierarchy society needs, the more artificial hierarchy fascism imposes.