Economic surplus reliably produces arbitrary-set systems of social hierarchy
Evidence
- While age and gender based hierarchies will tend to exist within all social systems, arbitrary-set systems of social hierarchy will invariably emerge within social systems producing sustainable economic surplus. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3183 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
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 (
#complicates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Overabundance of supply invalidates classical scarcity-based economic reasoning — Yves Citton, The Ecology of Attention, 31; Every class society’s smaller classes extract value by controlling the dominant factor of production — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 828; Economic dependence on employers or charity can itself constitute a form of domination — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 54 (+7 more)
Broader Connections
- Arbitrary-set hierarchies emerge only once economic surplus is sustainable.
#corroborates(0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3183 - Artificial hierarchies compensate for the loss of real hierarchy in rationalized society
#complicates(0.72) — Theodor W. Adorno, The Culture Industry, 194