Status hierarchies can emerge purely from individuals’ belonging, distinctiveness, and esteem needs

Evidence

We propose that group-based status hierarchies may be one such emergent pattern. Individuals within a society are motivated to form or join groups that allow them to feel a sense of belonging with others and a sense of distinctiveness, and that also confer positive social value, which in turn fosters self-esteem. Individuals attempting to satisfy all three of these needs simultaneously should be motivated to form or join relatively small, high-status groups. We predict that all agents in a particular context will want to join the highest status group available and that interaction patterns among agents will create a hierarchical structure. High-status groups should form relatively quickly and then begin excluding other members from the group once the group reaches a certain size (because group members need the group to be small in order to satisfy their need for distinctiveness). Once the highest status group becomes highly restrictive, a second-tier group will form, and so forth. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 855

Categorization

• XREF: Complicates the Allport/realistic-conflict frame that prejudice drives group hierarchy: here group-formation motives alone might generate status tiers without prejudice being causal. — connects to: Status hierarchies are perceived unevenly and sharpen with community inculcation — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 885; Online communities reproduce status hierarchies that limit who can participate — Alice E. Marwick, Status Update: Celebrity, Publicity,…, 173; Leaders and hierarchies inevitably emerge in large groups regardless of horizontalist ideals — Vincent Bevins, If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and…, 901 (+13 more)
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 855