The Culture Trait of Hierarchy in Middle Class Children

Abstract

IFLAILING HIERARCHICAL organization for its sins, both mortal and venial, has been a joyful and rewarding enterprise for many concerned with social organization in its varied manifestations. A growing chorus of lament over the tyranny of traditional forms of administrative organizations has added to the rising clamor of these troubled days. But take heart. We are promised deliverance from the torment and sufferings visited upon us by the oppressor. Recently, Warren G. Bennis, a social psychologist with expertise in organizational theory, asserted that . . . the worst possible theory of organization-apart from all the others that have been so far tried is about to perish. In the next 25 to 50 years, he prophesies, all should be witness to and participate in, the end of bureaucracy and the rise of new social systems better able to cope with twentieth century demands. 1 Disclaiming any pejorative intent, Bennis identifies as bureaucracies all administrative organizations having the characteristics with which we are all familiar, such as well-defined assignments of authority on a hierarchical pattern and impersonal relationships between these formal positions. Nevertheless, he maintains that the term is felicitous because hierarchical organizations are invariably distinguished by a broad assortment of dysfunctions, running the gamut from bosses without technical competence to arbitrary and zany rules. 2 The ears of public servants and students of public administration should be warm, for public agencies conspicuously display the six > Students of organizations first attacked the theory, and later the continued existence, of organizations with a formal allocation of authority. In the 1940's the classical organization theory was condemned as culture-bound and unscientific. In the 1960's some students are claiming that hierarchical organizations will soon be supplanted by other forms. Other students of organization defend the classical theory as relevant on the grounds that it is embedded in the culture. To test that hypothesis, a culture trait questionnaire, based on the principles of organization, was administered to various age groups from fourth grade to graduate school level. The data indicate that for children of suburban, middle-class background, the trait is well-established by age 14. The factors creating this culture trait, and the implications of its existence for the elimination of hierarchical organizations, are considered.