Historical Social Hierarchies and Discrimination

Key Insight

Complex human societies, lacking biological instincts for mass cooperation, created imagined orders and scripts that, while enabling large networks, were neither neutral nor fair. These orders divided people into make-believe hierarchical groups, where upper levels enjoyed privileges and power, and lower levels suffered discrimination and oppression. Examples include Hammurabi's Code, which established a pecking order of 'superiors,' 'commoners,' and 'slaves' with differing values and punishments.

The American Declaration of Independence, despite proclaiming 'all men are created equal,' also established hierarchies: between men and women, whites and blacks/American Indians, and rich and poor. Many signatories were slaveholders, believing 'men's rights' did not extend to Negroes, and that wealth inequality reflected 'immutable laws of nature' or divine mandate. It is an 'iron rule of history' that every imagined hierarchy disavows its fictional origins, claiming to be natural and inevitable, often through pseudoscientific or religious justifications like Aristotle's 'slavish nature' or the Hindu caste system's cosmic origins.

These hierarchies are products of human imagination, not biological realities. For example, the Hindu caste system likely originated from an Indo-Aryan invasion and was perpetuated by concepts of purity and impurity, evolving into 3,000 'jati' that dictate profession, residence, and marriage. Similarly, the American racial hierarchy, initially driven by economic expediency (African immunity to tropical diseases), was perpetuated by racist myths and 'Jim Crow' laws long after slavery ended. This created 'vicious circles' where discrimination (e.g., lack of opportunities for blacks) was then cited as 'proof' of inherent inferiority, solidifying unjust systems through generations and highlighting how historical chance events transform into cruel social structures.