This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Square and the Tower" by Niall Ferguson. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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What, exactly, is a hierarchy? What does a hierarchical network look like in society?
Historian Niall Ferguson applies network theory to his analysis of world history. In doing so, he makes three key observations: Hierarchies are necessary to maintain social order, additional networks tend to undermine hierarchies, and hierarchies can deal with only a limited amount of complexity.
Continue reading to see how Ferguson applies the hierarchical network model to society.
Hierarchical Network Model
According to Ferguson, a hierarchy is a specific kind of network in which one entity exercises authority over others who in turn exercise authority over others, and so on, without any other connections of authority or loyalty. This means that the first entity automatically has the most betweenness, because all information flows up from every lower entity, passes through the person at the top, and only then is distributed elsewhere. The importance of individual entities diminishes as you go down the tiers of the hierarchy because each entity is connected only to its own subordinates and its lone superior.
(Shortform note: In principle, a hierarchy doesn’t have to be about interpersonal power. Ferguson focuses mostly on government hierarchies and similar power structures, where most of the connections between individuals involve bonds of loyalty or authority. But, computer scientists have found that hierarchical networks are a very efficient way to connect computers and peripheral devices. A hierarchical network of computers illustrates how the same network structure can distribute data rather than authority.)
Three Principles of Hierarchies
As Ferguson looks at world history, he sees the hierarchical network model at work. He identifies three truths about hierarchies that are evident in society. Let’s take a look at each one.
#1: Hierarchies Maintain Order
Ferguson observes that many important networks, such as governments and corporations, are at least approximately hierarchical in their structure. He suggests that these networks tend to take the form of hierarchies because hierarchies are particularly efficient when it comes to coordinating activities and resolving disputes. He explains that hierarchies facilitate dispute resolution because any two entities that disagree can appeal to their shared superior. But, if they don’t have anyone that they both regard as superior, then their differences continue to fester—sometimes until they go to war and the victor emerges as the superior in a new hierarchy.
For this reason, Ferguson goes so far as to say that peace and social order are possible only when there is a clear hierarchy that everyone accepts as legitimate. In most cases, a government is the hierarchy that maintains order. But sometimes, alternative entities establish the hierarchy. For example, international treaties often have the effect of creating a hierarchy of national powers: The treaty itself acts as a moderator between nations by establishing agreements and relationships between them, as well as provisions for enforcement, yet without creating an international government, per se.
| What Does It Take to Keep the Peace? Some people disagree with Ferguson’s assertion that hierarchies are the only way to keep the peace. For example, in The Anatomy of Peace, the Arbinger Institute argues that conflict is something we create unnecessarily by adopting a combative mindset. The Institute says that if you treat other people as obstacles to your own success, they tend to react defensively. This makes it difficult to resolve your disagreements without a court or other power structure to arbitrate between you and enforce its rulings. But, if you rethink your situation, set aside your own biases, and look for ways to help others instead of seeing them as obstacles, you can build cooperative relationships with them. Your relationship then makes disagreements easy to resolve whenever they do arise, without having to appeal to a higher authority. If everyone took this approach, then the resulting network of cooperative relationships would provide an alternative means of keeping the peace to the hierarchy that Ferguson says is necessary. |
#2: Additional Networks Undermine Hierarchies
Ferguson’s second conclusion is that any other network that creates additional connections of loyalty between entities within a hierarchy weakens the power of the hierarchy. This is because the additional connections reduce the betweenness of the entities in the tiers above them so that the higher-up entities no longer are the sole pass-through points for information. Any network that allows people to share ideas outside of official communications has the potential to spread ideas that are contrary to the hierarchical order, even if that’s not the network’s primary purpose.
And, the more loyalties people have (to friends, ideologies, and so on) outside the official hierarchy, the less complete their loyalty to the hierarchy becomes. Thus, according to Ferguson, there is usually some amount of tension between formal hierarchies and other networks.
| Hierarchies and Other Networks Support Different Kinds of Freedom In Thank You for Being Late, Thomas Friedman provides additional perspective on the principle that other networks undermine hierarchies. He contrasts two types of freedom, freedom from oppression and freedom to do what you think is worth doing, and he discusses how they relate to networking. As Friedman explains, informal peer-to-peer networks such as those found on social media are great for making people more difficult to coerce and empowering them to throw off oppression. These networks naturally promote freedom from coercive influences. But, according to Friedman, they don’t generally empower people to do things. This is because the freedom to do things is contingent on having infrastructure or systems in place that enable you to do the things you want to do, and informal networks can’t provide that. Ferguson would probably add that building infrastructure and organizing support systems is something that hierarchies excel at. So, hierarchies promote freedom to do things that the hierarchy supports, while other types of networks promote freedom from coercion by the hierarchy. |
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- Why conspiracy theories are often wrong
- Why social media networks stir up more conflict than harmony
- How social networks undermine hierarchies and social order
