It seems over our history, that we have shifted from hierarchy to egalitarianism over the years, even over a year depending on fishing and hunting seasons.
My own research led me to a system in the brain called the ‘Dominance Behaviour System (DBS).
When you give someone power, they tend to make different decisions, ones which are focussed on maintaining their power over what’s actually ecologically fair and sustainable for the eco-system.
The problem with hierarchy is that the dark tetrad of personality thrives. That means that the higher somebody rises up a hierarchy, the less compassionate they become and the less they are able to see somebody else’s point of view.
There are times when having a ‘leader’ is useful- e.g. when you’re in an emergency situation. But after the challenge has been overcome there is no reason we can’t then become egalitarian again.
In the Special Forces world this is known as ‘Dynamic Subordination’. Who leads is usually the person who is first through the door.
When organisations and militaries want to get things done efficiently and creatively, they create ‘special’ project teams, or expeditionary teams.
They operate at the liminal edges of the organisation and are usually discovering new paradigms or products and generally disrupting the status-quo.
They are then brought back into the fold to carry on as before.
Are we hierarchical or egalitarian?…the truth is we can be both, but with greater awareness we can be more coherent in our approach, so that we use different social systems to create a positive outcome, but then it is then back to being egalitarian.
This was an interesting read-https://lnkd.in/eq6uqwMM
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