Hierarchy

Saturday, June 24, 2023

[Heavily edited for length –Ed.]

It gives us pleasure to act “correctly”: morally, ethically, honestly, honorably. Most of us like to think we are “good” people, which means sticking to whatever code of conduct we have accepted. Even the Nazis and the KKK thought they were protecting their society and its values.

We like to think we are “good” people, though the definition of good can vary–reliability, generosity, superiority, selflessness and ability can all be “good.”

Why shouldn’t this be the case? It is an evolutionary advantage for a gregarious species to be able to cooperate. Members of the species that have the mental tools to cooperate are favored over those that don’t. To cooperate, we have to be able to trust each other–to predict each other’s behavior. Thus the urge to be honest, to keep promises, to stick to the terms of bargains. Also, the urge to trust. Most of us instinctively assume that agreements are binding and that each will keep their word. If we didn’t, if we were always automatically suspicious, things would not go smoothly. We would not make as many agreements, they would be subject to cumbersome verification strategies, and we would break agreements out of suspicion that the other was going to do the same.

Could a gene that promoted selfishness wipe out a group? The selfish person, having no moral scruples, is able to lie, manipulate, betray, and thus rise to dominance. But what happens if, as alpha, they father or bear most of the group’s children? The gene spreads. Pretty soon nobody can trust anyone else, there is no cohesion, and the group dies.

Ruling classes often keep this from happening by only having children with other members of their class. By only marrying each other, the upper classes perpetuate whatever “superior” genes they have and keep whatever negative genes they have from infecting the populace. Ruthlessness, the will to power, to desire to rule and control others–if everybody in a society had these traits it wouldn’t last a day.

Of course, we shouldn’t give too much credit to genes. The moral training of children is all important. Upper class children are taught that they are superior, that it is their destiny to run things, and that mixing with commoners is bad. Families that don’t instill the values of selfishness, acquisitiveness, and superiority in their children soon cease being wealthy families.