Editing Hierarchy (section)

{{short description|System of elements that are subordinated to each other}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Redirect|Subordinate|other uses|Subordination (disambiguation){{!}}Subordination}}
[[File:Die Leiter des Auf- und Abstiegs.jpg|thumb|right|The mediaeval ''scala naturae'' as a staircase, implying the [[orthogenesis|possibility of progress]]:<ref>{{cite book |last=Ruse |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Ruse |date=1996 |title=Monad to man: the Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology |url=https://archive.org/details/monadtomanconcep0000ruse |url-access=registration |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-03248-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/monadtomanconcep0000ruse/page/21 21]–23}}</ref> [[Ramon Llull]]'s ''Ladder of Ascent and Descent of the Mind'', 1305]]
A '''hierarchy''' (from [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]: {{Langx|grc|ἱεραρχία|translit=hierarkhia|lit=rule of a high priest|label=none}}, from {{transliteration|grc|[[ordinary (officer)|hierarkhes]]}}, 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an important concept in a wide variety of fields, such as [[architecture]], [[philosophy]], [[design]], [[mathematics]], [[computer science]], [[organizational theory]], [[systems theory]], [[systematic biology]], and the [[social sciences]] (especially [[political science]]).

A hierarchy can link entities either directly or indirectly, and either vertically or diagonally. The only direct links in a hierarchy, insofar as they are hierarchical, are to one's immediate superior or to one of one's [[subordinate]]s, although a system that is largely hierarchical can also incorporate alternative hierarchies. Hierarchical links can extend "vertically" upwards or downwards via multiple links in the same direction, following a [[path (graph theory)|path]]. All parts of the hierarchy that are not linked vertically to one another nevertheless can be "horizontally" linked through a path by traveling up the hierarchy to find a common direct or indirect superior, and then down again. This is akin to two [[co-worker]]s or [[Comrade|colleague]]s; each reports to a common superior, but they have the same relative amount of authority. Organizational forms exist that are both alternative and complementary to hierarchy. [[Heterarchy]] is one such form.