Social ranking in animal and human societies
This chapter studies how social ranking in humans emerged as the result of an evolutionary process. It starts with the story of the discovery of pecking order among chickens by a Norwegian boy. Both animals and humans need a healthy balance between cooperation and competition to ensure evolutionarily efficient strategies. The biological machinery behind social ranking is discussed. There are two distinct mechanisms for navigating the social ladder: dominance and prestige. Dominance, an evolutionarily older strategy, is based on the ability to intimidate other members in the group by physical size and strength. The group members don’t accept dominance-based social rank freely, only by coercion. Members of a colony fight, and the winners of these fights will be accepted as “dominants” and the losers as “subordinates.” The naturally formed hierarchy serves as a way to prevent superfluous fighting and injuries within a colony. Prestige, as a strategy, is evolutionarily younger and is based on skills and knowledge as appraised by the community. Prestige hierarchies are maintained by the consent of the community, without pressure being applied by particular members. The mechanisms of forming and maintaining social hierarchies are described. Social structures, both hierarchies and network organizations, are reviewed. Discussion of these structures is carried over to social and political history and the tension between democracy and authoritarianism.