hierarchy/hierarchical thinking

watch for subtle evidence of hierarchical thinking in your writing, the tendency to organize things or people so that each element (except for the top one) is subordinate to some other element. This kind of power ranking colors most of our culture, from government, businesses, churches, educational institutions, and the military to some families. The pecking order in chickens has nothing on us humans. Feminists have emphasized linking relationships instead of ranking relationships, "power with" rather than "power over." Starhawk wrote (Truth or Dare), "Each being is sacred—meaning that each has inherent value that cannot be ranked in a hierarchy or compared to the value of another being."