Difference between revisions of "Hierarchy"

Revision as of 01:19, January 16, 2008

A hierarchy is an ordering of persons, ideas, or constructs from less to greater importance, in a tiered organizational structure. Organizations may have a hierarchy, both formally and informally: for example, the Senate formally has no internal hierarchy, but informally, senior Senators may "rank" above junior Senators.

Intellectually, intangible ideas may be expressed in a hierarchical form. An idea common in philosophy is the "hierarchy of needs," a theory proposed by Abraham Maslow, who argued that each individual must meet different needs in ascending order before attaining self-actualization, the pinnacle of human self-awareness.^[1]

↑ http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm

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-A '''hierarchy''' ([[Greek language|Greek]] ''hieros'' sacred, ''arkho'' rule) is a system of [[rank order|ranking]] and organizing things. Different fields use the word in slightly different ways, but a particular definition (below) captures the core of almost all uses.
+A '''hierarchy''' is an ordering of persons, ideas, or constructs from less to greater importance, in a tiered organizational structure.  Organizations may have a hierarchy, both formally and informally: for example, the [[Senate]] formally has no internal hierarchy, but informally, senior Senators may "rank" above junior Senators.
-Originally, "hierarchy" meant "rule by [[priest]]s".  Since hierarchical churches such as the [[Roman Catholicism|Roman Catholic]] and [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] churches had tables of organization that were "hierarchical" in the modern sense of the word, the term came to refer to similar organizational methods in more general settings.
+Intellectually, intangible ideas may be expressed in a hierarchical form.  An idea common in [[philosophy]] is the "hierarchy of needs," a theory proposed by [[Abraham Maslow]], who argued that each individual must meet different needs in ascending order before attaining [[self-actualization]], the pinnacle of human self-awareness.<ref>http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/maslow.htm</ref>
-Examples of hierarchy:
+[[category:Sociology]]
-* Theological: [[God]], saved [[soul]]s, [[angel]]s, [[man]], [[bird]]s, [[animal]]s, [[plant]]s, [[rock (geology)|rocks]]
-** (See also [[hierarchy of angels]])
-* [[scientific classification|Scientific classification]] of [[organism]]s: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species
-* Social: [[monarch]], [[noble]]s, [[gentry]], [[yeomanry]], [[peasant]]s, [[serf]]s
-* [[patriarchy|Patriarchy]] with [[ageism]]: [[father]], oldest [[son]], younger sons, [[mother]], eldest [[daughter]], other daughters
-== General description (informal) ==
-A precise, mathematical definition of hierarchy will be given below. This section will try to explore the ideas behind that more compact definition.
-A hierarchy is based on an [[asymmetrical relationship]], such as "is the boss of", "is part of", or "is better than". Such relationships are "asymmetrical" in the sense that if they "work one way", they don't "work the other". For example, if Sally is the boss of Jim, then Jim is ''not'' the boss of Sally. When two nodes are related, one is designated the "superior" (or sometimes the "parent") and the other the "subordinate" (or sometimes the "child"). In the intuitive case of the "is the boss of" relation, the boss is the superior and the employee is the subordinate.
-A hierarchy's asymmetrical relationship can link entities in one of three ways: directly, indirectly, or not at all. The illustration shows a ''direct'' link between the craft and culture sections; the craft section is directly linked to the culture section by the "contains" relationship. This is akin to how your boss is directly in charge of you. In contrast, the illustration shows an ''indirect'' link between craft and encyclopedia; the craft section is only "contained" by the encyclopedia as a whole by virtue of being "contained" by the culture section. This is akin to how the CEO of a company is in charge of a factory worker only via middle management. Finally, there is effectively ''no link'' between the art and the craft sections; neither section contains the other. This is akin to two co-workers, neither of whom is the other's boss.
-''Every member is reachable from any other by following the relationship in either direction, but there is no way of coming back to a particular member by always following the relationship in the same direction.''
-== General description (formal) ==
-A hierarchy can be represented as a connected directed acyclic [[graph theory|graph]] with a designated initial node (the ''root''). Such structures are also commonly named ''trees'' (since they look like upside-down trees, with the root at the top).
-== Examples of reasoning with hierarchies ==
-Many aspects of the world are analyzed, arguably fruitfully, from a hierarchical perspective. The concept of hierarchy thus qualifies as [[interdisciplinarity|interdisciplinary]]. Science provides the following examples:
-* In biology, [[organism]]s are commonly described as an assembly of parts (organs) which are themselves assemblies of yet smaller parts, and so on.
-* In physics, the [[standard model]] decomposes bodies down to their smallest [[particle]] components.
-* In [[linguistics]], words or sentences are often broken down into hierarchies of parts and wholes.
-* In [[ethics]], various [[virtues]] are enumerated and sometimes organized hierarchically according to certain brands of [[virtue theory]].
-In all of these examples, the asymmetric relationship is "is composed of".
-== Social hierarchies ==
-Many human [[organization]]s, such as [[business]]es, churches, armies and political movements are structured hierarchically, at least officially; commonly superiors, called ''bosses'', have more [[power (sociology)|power]] than their subordinates. Thus the asymmetrical relationship might be "has power over". (Some analysists question whether power "really" works as the traditional organizational chart indicates, however.) See also [[Chain of command]].
-[[feminism|Feminists]] talk about a hierarchy of [[gender]], in which a culture sees [[male]]s or [[masculinity|masculine traits]] as [[superiority|superior]] to [[female]]s or [[femininity|feminine traits]]. In the terms above, these feminists present us a hierarchy of only two nodes, "masculine" and "feminine", connected by the asymmetrical relationship "is valued more highly by society". An example of this usage:
-:The hierarchical nature of the dualism - the systematic devaluation of females and whatever is metaphorically understood as "feminine" - is what I identify as sexism. (Nelson [[1992]], p. 106)
-Note that in the contexts of feminism and other social criticism, the word ''hierarchy'' usually is used as meaning ''power hierarchy'' or ''power structure.'' Feminists do not take issue with ''hierarchy'' in the most general definition of the word, but rather with the specific asymmetrical relationship of unequal value between men and women. Various other social critics take issue with different types of power hierarchies that they see as being unjust.
-== Hierarchical nomenclatures in the arts and sciences ==
-Hierarchies are important for categorization and organization of large numbers of objects. [[Taxonomy|Taxonomies]], for example, such as biological taxonomies, are built on hierarchies. Hierarchy is also often used to control complexity in engineering endeavors. For example, large [[electronic]] devices such as [[computer]]s are usually composed of modules, which are themselves created out of smaller components ([[integrated circuit]]s), which in turn are internally organized using hierarchial methods (e.g. using standard cells).
-Hierarchies are used very extensively in [[computer science]] and [[information theory]]; here are a few examples. [[computer file|Computer files]] in a [[file system]] are stored in a hierarchy of [[directory|directories]] in most [[operating system]]s. In [[object-oriented]] programming, classes are organized hierarchically; the relationship between two related classes is called [[inheritance-oop|inheritance]]. In the [[Internet]], [[IP address]]es are increasingly organized in a [[classless inter-domain routing|hierarchy]] (so that the [[routing]] will continue to function as the Internet grows).
-The [[pitch (music)|pitches]] and [[musical form|form]] of [[tonality|Tonal]] [[music]] are organized hierarchically, all pitches deriving their importance from their relationship to a [[tonic (music)|tonic]] [[key signature|key]], and secondary themes in other keys are brought back to the tonic in a recapitulation of the primary theme. [[Susan McClary]] connects this specifically in the [[sonata-allegro form]] to the feminist hierarchy of gender (see above) in her book Feminine Endings, even pointing out that primary themes were often previously called "masculine" and secondary themes "feminine."
-== Wikis and Wikipedia ==
-The largest Wiki [[community]], [[Wikipedia]], is hierarchical, as users differ in their editorial control over the content of the articles.
-Those who frequent [[Wiki]]s might label Wikipedia's organization "[[wikiarchy|wikiarchical]]".
-The founder [[Jimmy Wales]] has not renounced to his ability to control the project, by creating policies with immediate effect, or by choosing [[arbitrators]] and by being the head of the [[Wikimedia]] foundation which owns Wikipedia.  A special "policy" ([[Wikipedia:Wikipedia:Office Actions|Wikipedia:Office Actions]]) was created by the founder, which enables a trusted editor to "temporarily" and unilaterally [[censor]] content of the articles.  Opposition to such "office actions" usually leads to immediate blocking of the offender.
-In addition, some users' contributions are valued more than others, and articles are deemed "unencyclopedic" simply because there are no prior examples of the similar articles. This behavour encourages the feeling of [[seniority]], where "older" Wikipedians know how to cause some articles to be deleted.
-The ''content'' of Wikipedia (as opposed to the ''[[community]]'') is organized in a fashion that is not overtly hierarchical. For the most part, the relationship between the individual articles does not form any sort of vertical structure (with the exception of categories).
-==Criticism and alternatives==
-Hierarchies and hierarchical thinking has been criticized by many people, including Susan McClary as above. Possible alternatives include:
-*[[enumerative]] organization, a list
-*[[retiary]] organization, a web or network
-*[[heterarchy]] horizontal organization, opposite of hierarchy
-== External links ==
-*[http://www.isss.org/hierarchy.htm Principles and annotated bibliography of hierarchy theory]
-*[http://www.nbi.dk/~natphil/salthe/hierarchy_th.html  Summary of the Principles of Hierarchy Theory] - S.N. Salthe
-----
-''text below to be prosified''
-Generalizations: [[structure]]
-Specializations:
-* purpose: [[hierarchical organization]]
-* structural properties: [[hierarchical tree structure]], [[rooted hierarchy]]
-* nature of the hierarchical relationship: [[part-whole hierarchy]], [[containment hierarchy]], [[inheritance hierarchy]], [[responsibility hierarchy]], [[control hierarchy]]
-Relevant examples:
-* Biology: [[Linnaean taxonomy]]
-* Computer science: [[hierarchy (object-oriented programming)]], [[class (computer science)|Classes]]
-* Genealogy: [[genealogy tree]]
-* Linguistics: [[Chomsky hierarchy]]
-* Psychology: [[Maslow's hierarchy of needs]]
-----
-==See also==
-*[[unity of command]]
-== References ==
-* Julie Nelson (1992). "Gender, Metaphor and the Definition of Economics". ''Economics and Philosophy'', 8:103-125.
-{{wikipedia|Hierarchy}}
-[[fr:Hiérarchie]]
-[[it:gerarchia]]
-[[de:Hierarchie]]

Difference between revisions of "Hierarchy"

Revision as of 01:19, January 16, 2008

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