Status Hierarchy

For most of us, the following scenario is probably familiar in many ways. It’s the last school assembly of the year, and the gym is buzzing with energy and chatter. Rows of students sit cross-legged on the floor, proud parents line the back wall, and a folding table stands at the front, stacked with certificates and trophies.

As names are called, students walk up to polite applause and whoops. Some earned certificates for academic excellence, others for leadership, perfect attendance, or “most improved.” One star student, Katya, walks up several times for multiple subjects, each time to louder applause. As her stack of papers grows, her smile widens.

In the back row, another student, Alan, sits rigidly. He struggled in math this year, and kept mostly quiet in class. When “citizenship awards” are handed out, his name isn’t called. By the end of the assembly, he is clapping without looking up, just waiting for the ceremony to end. 

Afterward, someone laughs and says, “Katya might as well run the school.” Everyone chuckles, and she grins, a little shy but clearly proud. It was just a joke, but at that moment, the pecking had been clearly established. The certificates weren’t just pieces of paper anymore. They marked out who matters, and everyone’s position in the school’s academic hierarchy. 

From an early age, we are taught to interpret our social world through rankings. Whether it’s childhood sports competitions, spelling bees, GPAs, or prom royalty, hierarchies encourage us to see who stands out as more talented, intelligent, or admired. As adults, we continue this pattern, easily recognizing status markers such as luxury cars, large homes, and prestigious job titles.

So, why do status hierarchies exist, and where are they typically found? Simply put, hierarchy is a basic element of social life.¹⁴ Status hierarchies function to organize social groups in order to allocate limited resources (like partners and food), facilitate social learning, and maximize individual motivation.¹ They help reduce conflict by clarifying roles and expectations, and allow groups to function more efficiently—whether it’s deciding who leads a hunt, who speaks in a meeting, or who gets picked first on the playground. As English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes wrote in his book Leviathan in 1651, a strong central authority is necessary to avoid the chaos of the “state of nature.”²⁹ Without some kind of order, social life would be a lot more chaotic. 

Status hierarchies are a nearly universal phenomenon across social contexts and species.¹⁴ In humans, they are visible in family units, peer groups, classrooms, workplaces, and even informal social interactions. Children as young as one year can detect dominance relationships, and by preschool, they begin forming their own social hierarchies.^2,3 These structures become more complex through adolescence and adulthood, appearing in schools, corporations, governments, and social networks. Their pervasiveness highlights their adaptive value—supporting survival, cooperation, and social learning—while also influencing who gains access to opportunities and resources at each stage of life. 

In non-human primates, social groups also often have a clear pecking order. This dominance hierarchy shows who’s in charge and who falls below, based on how individuals act in conflicts. When one animal consistently wins and another backs down, a pattern forms. Over time, these interactions shape a ranking system that everyone in the group seems to understand.⁴ Even fish have status hierarchies. For example, among New Zealand Spotty Wrasse (a fish you’ve probably never heard of), dominance hierarchies take shape quickly and follow a clear size-based pattern—bigger fish tend to act more dominant, often taking over the shelter, while smaller fish usually back off or try to get away.⁵ And when a dominant male is removed, in extreme cases, the dominant female undergoes a socially-controlled sex change. 

Status hierarchies aren’t one-size-fits-all. Depending on the setting, they can look very different. Some are steep and rigid, with every person neatly ranked from top to bottom. Examples of these hierarchies can be found in a military chain of command or a corporate organization. Others are much flatter, splitting people into just two loose groups: the “ins” and the “outs.” If you walk into any North American high school, you’ll likely witness the clear delineation between the “cool” kids and the “not-so-cool” kids. However, status hierarchies all tend to be shaped by the same economic and cultural factors, the most important of which are occupation, race/ethnicity, and income (in the Western world, at least).¹⁵

And while hierarchies can be useful in organizing society and clarifying everyone’s role, history tells us that status hierarchies can be extremely damaging, potentially irreversible. During the transatlantic slave trade, racialized social stratification and economic exploitation created a clear binary hierarchy. Enslaved Africans were legally defined as chattel property—bought, sold, inherited, and treated as commodities—while white colonists held full legal rights and autonomy. This slave status was hereditary, with children inheriting their mother’s enslaved condition, ensuring the intergenerational reinforcement of racial hierarchy. The impacts of this social hierarchy are still deeply embedded in society today, from unequal access to quality education and healthcare to disparities in policing and incarceration rates and the persistent underrepresentation of marginalized groups in leadership roles.