The few have the most.

upside down hierarchyEvery person who improves his or her status in life does so at the expense of another.

Perhaps plutonomy, where we rely upon social power and economic power to establish policy and drive markets, is an upside down hierarchy. The few have the most.

Generally, we think that this is OK. There’s a number of explanations we use to justify hierarchy.

says, “Each upward movement must be matched by a downward one, the contentment generated by the former offset by the misery of the latter.”

“It’s frustrating to think how many Mozarts never picked up a violin because their fathers were carpenters rather than composers.”

meritocratic society meritocracy

no hierarchy