The Diversity of Hierarchal Systems

    Hierarchies are a naturally occurring arrangement of a wide range of systems in reality.  They occur in the social and political systems of human beings (and possibly other conscious beings) as well as non-conscious, physical systems like stars, galaxies, and computers. I would argue that they are a necessary, and inevitable, component of existence. 

 Existence itself being constructed of a complex hierarchal arrangement of consciousness, forms, ideas, space, time, energy, and matter.

    In politics, government, and society, the arrangement of a hierarchy is the determining factor of a wide range of social vices and virtues, in particular the applicability of things like power and liberty, as well as the enabling of oppression and subjugation. 

The economic and social hierarchy determines the enabling or restricting of upward mobility and the fluidity of the hierarchal system (whether or not you can move to different positions in the hierarchy) The more rigid and immobile the hierarchy, often times the more oppressive it is.

        Simple hierarchies are often the most rigid, and often the most subjugative. Simple hierarchies are usually top-down, with a supreme authority at the top and subordinates down a chain of command.  These often form a lot quicker and a lot more frequently in humanity because of their efficiency and their controllability.

     Many communist nations, which were by default anti-hierarchal because of their extreme egalitarianism, tried to do away with hierarchal arrangements in their armed forces at points in their history, but ran into some serious problems of effectiveness in combat because of the massive breakdown of "command and control." It made running an organized system of human beings greatly inefficient and quite chaotic, making them less able to combat an enemy or accomplish goals.

 

 Command and control is an absolute necessity in running not just a military, but any organized system of human beings. Command and control can be most effectively instituted through a simple hierarchal arrangement.

 In many cases, simple, rigid hierarchies are often necessary, but within complex systems like governments and societies, complex and fluid hierarchies are more desirable, especially if your focus is fostering and preserving liberty.  If a simple, rigid hierarchy is more geared towards fostering power and authority, a complex, fluid hierarchy is more geared towards fostering liberty. It does so because of the mobility in the system fluidity and complexity creates.

      Hierarchies can be very diverse. Cyclical hierarchies, networked/webbed hierarchies. Hierarchies of points and the dimensions of space. They are as diverse and complex as existence is, which from my perspective is infinite diversity and complexity. From my perspective, complexity and fluidity equates to liberty. I am not an anarchist or communist. 

       I don't see getting rid of hierarchies as the answer. I see diversifying them and complexifying them as the answer, creating complex systems of checks, balances, and safeguards within a complex system to prevent the system from collapsing. The more of these you have, the more stable and secure the system is, especially in a free society. Top-down, rigid hierarchies often lead to oppression and animosity between the levels of the hierarchy, which could possibly lead to social instability and collapse. 

     Maintaining any hierarchy requires all parts of the system to be treated fairly and treated as having value.  One need not look much further than the body of Christ analogy in 1st Corinthians, that being a hierarchy analogy itself. In it, it insists on all the parts of the body treating each other with dignity and seeing the value of each part, making that system work. Treating each part of the hierarchy as indispensable would ensure a sense of unity and make the system operate far more smoothly and effectively than a discorded or disunified system. A disunified hierarchy always collapses over time.  The more complex a hierarchy, and the more harmonious a hierarchy, the more stable it is, and the more free they are. 

Something our society in its current state desperately needs.