Hierarchy

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"Subordinate" redirects here. For other uses, see Subordination.
A hierarchy (from the Greek hierarkhia, "rule of a high priest", from hierarkhes, "president of sacred
rites") is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) in which the items 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 philosophy, mathematics, computer
science, organizational theory, systems theory, and the social sciences (especially political
philosophy).
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 subordinates, 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. All parts of the hierarchy which 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-
workers or colleagues; 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.

Contents

 1Nomenclature
o 1.1Degree of branching
 2History of the term
 3Visually representing hierarchies
 4Visual hierarchy
 5Informal representation
 6Mathematical representation
 7Subtypes
o 7.1Nested hierarchy
 7.1.1Containment hierarchy
 7.1.1.1Subsumptive containment hierarchy
 7.1.1.2Compositional containment hierarchy
 8Contexts and applications
o 8.1Organizations
o 8.2Life
o 8.3Computer graphic imaging
o 8.4Linguistics
o 8.5Music
 9Criticisms of views, concerning distinctions of type and categories well as distinguishability
o 9.1Ethics, behavioral psychology, philosophies of identity
 10Examples of other applications
o 10.1Information-based
o 10.2City planning-based
o 10.3Linguistics-based
o 10.4Power- or authority-based
o 10.5Value-based
o 10.6Perception-based
o 10.7History-based
o 10.8Science-based
o 10.9Technology-based
 o 10.10Religion-based
o 10.11Methods using hierarchy
 11See also
o 11.1Strucure-related concepts
 12Footnotes
 13Further reading
 14External links

Nomenclature[edit]
See also: Glossary of graph theory, Taxonomy (general), and Structure
Hierarchies have their own special vocabulary. These terms are easiest to understand when a
hierarchy is diagrammed (see below).
In an organizational context, the following terms are often used related to hierarchies:[1][2]

 Object: one entity (e.g., a person, department or concept or element of arrangement or member
of a set)
 System: the entire set of objects that are being arranged hierarchically (e.g., an administration)
 Dimension: another word for "system" from on-line analytical processing (e.g. cubes)
 Member: an (element or object) at any (level or rank) in a (class-system, taxonomy or
dimension)
 Terms about Positioning
o Rank: the relative value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level etc. of an
object
o Level or Tier: a set of objects with the same rank OR importance
o Ordering: the arrangement of the (ranks or levels)
o Hierarchy: the arrangement of a particular set of members into (ranks or levels). Multiple
hierarchies are possible per (dimension taxonomy or Classification-system), in which
selected levels of the dimension are omitted to flatten the structure
 Terms about Placement
o Hierarch, the apex of the hierarchy, consisting of one single orphan (object or member) in
the top level of a dimension. The root of an inverted-tree structure
o Member, a (member or node) in any level of a hierarchy in a dimension to which (superior
and subordinate) members are attached
o Orphan, a member in any level of a dimension without a parent member. Often the apex of
a disconnected branch. Orphans can be grafted back into the hierarchy by creating a
relationship (interaction) with a parent in the immediately superior level
o Leaf, a member in any level of a dimension without subordinates in the hierarchy
o Neighbour: a member adjacent to another member in the same (level or rank). Always a
peer.
o Superior: a higher level or an object ranked at a higher level (A parent or an ancestor)
o Subordinate: a lower level or an object ranked at a lower level (A child or a descendant)
o Collection: all of the objects at one level (i.e. Peers)
o Peer: an object with the same rank (and therefore at the same level)
o Interaction: the relationship between an object and its direct superior or subordinate (i.e. a
superior/inferior pair)
 a direct interaction occurs when one object is on a level exactly one higher or one lower
than the other (i.e., on a tree, the two objects have a line between them)
o Distance: the minimum number of connections between two objects, i.e., one less than the
number of objects that need to be "crossed" to trace a path from one object to another
o Span: a qualitative description of the width of a level when diagrammed, i.e., the number of
subordinates an object has
 Terms about Nature
o Attribute: a heritable characteristic of (members and their subordinates) in a level (e.g. hair-
colour)
o Attribute-value: the specific value of a heritable characteristic (e.g. Auburn)
In a mathematical context (in graph theory), the general terminology used is different.
Most hierarchies use a more specific vocabulary pertaining to their subject, but the idea behind them
is the same. For example, with data structures, objects are known as nodes, superiors are
called parents and subordinates are called children. In a business setting, a superior is
a supervisor/boss and a peer is a colleague.
Degree of branching[edit]
Degree of branching refers to the number of direct subordinates or children an object has (in graph
theory, equivalent to the number of other vertices connected to via outgoing arcs, in a directed
graph) a node has. Hierarchies can be categorized based on the "maximum degree", the highest
degree present in the system as a whole. Categorization in this way yields two broad
classes: linear and branching.
In a linear hierarchy, the maximum degree is 1.[1] In other words, all of the objects can be visualized
in a line-up, and each object (excluding the top and bottom ones) has exactly one direct subordinate
and one direct superior. Note that this is referring to the objects and not the levels; every hierarchy
has this property with respect to levels, but normally each level can have an infinite number of
objects. An example of a linear hierarchy is the hierarchy of life.
In a branching hierarchy, one or more objects has a degree of 2 or more (and therefore the
minimum degree is 2 or higher).[1] For many people, the word "hierarchy" automatically evokes an
image of a branching hierarchy.[1] Branching hierarchies are present within numerous systems,
including organizations and classification schemes. The broad category of branching hierarchies can
be further subdivided based on the degree.
A flat hierarchy is a branching hierarchy in which the maximum degree approaches infinity, i.e., that
has a wide span.[2] Most often, systems intuitively regarded as hierarchical have at most a moderate
span. Therefore, a flat hierarchy is often not viewed as a hierarchy at all. For
example, diamonds and graphite are flat hierarchies of numerous carbon atoms which can be further
decomposed into subatomic particles.
An overlapping hierarchy is a branching hierarchy in which at least one object has two parent
objects.[1] For example, a graduate student can have two co-supervisors to whom the student reports
directly and equally, and who have the same level of authority within the university hierarchy (i.e.,
they have the same position or tenure status).

History of the term[edit]

Possibly the first use of the English word "hierarchy" cited by the Oxford English Dictionary was in
1881, when it was used in reference to the three orders of three angels as depicted by Pseudo-
Dionysius the Areopagite (5th–6th centuries). Pseudo-Dionysius used the related Greek word
(ἱεραρχία hierarchia) both in reference to the celestial hierarchy and the ecclesiastical
hierarchy.[3] The Greek term ἱεραρχία means "rule of a high priest"[4] (from ἱεράρχης hierarches,
meaning "president of sacred rites, high-priest"[5] and that from ἱερεύς hiereus, "priest"[6] and
ἀρχή arche, amongst others "first place or power, rule"[7]), and Dionysius is credited with first use of it
as an abstract noun. Since hierarchical churches, such as the Roman Catholic (see Catholic Church
hierarchy) and Eastern Orthodox churches, had tables of organization that were "hierarchical" in the
modern sense of the word (traditionally with God as the pinnacle or head of the hierarchy), the term
came to refer to similar organizational methods in secular settings.

Visually representing hierarchies[edit]

Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. This is an example of a hierarchy visualized with a triangle diagram.
A hierarchy is typically depicted as a pyramid, where the height of a level represents that level's
status and width of a level represents the quantity of items at that level relative to the whole.[8] For
example, the few Directors of a company could be at the apex, and the base could be thousands of
people who have no subordinates.
These pyramids are typically diagrammed with a tree or triangle diagram (but note that not all
triangle/pyramid diagrams are hierarchical; for example, the 1992 USDA food guide pyramid), both
of which serve to emphasize the size differences between the levels. An example of a triangle
diagram appears to the right. An organizational chart is the diagram of a hierarchy within
an organization, and is depicted in tree form in § Organizations, below.
More recently, as computers have allowed the storage and navigation of ever larger data sets,
various methods have been developed to represent hierarchies in a manner that makes more
efficient use of the available space on a computer's screen. Examples
include fractal maps, TreeMaps and Radial Trees.

Visual hierarchy[edit]
In the design field, mainly graphic design, successful layouts and formatting of the content on
documents are heavily dependent on the rules of visual hierarchy. Visual hierarchy is also important
for proper organization of files on computers.
An example of visually representing hierarchy is through the Nested clusters. The Nested clusters
represents hierarchical relationships by using layers of information. The child element is within the
parent element, such as in a Venn diagram. This structure of representing hierarchy is most effective
in representing simple relationships. For example, when directing someone to open a file on a
computer desktop, one may first direct them towards the main folder, then the subfolders within the
main folder. They will keep opening files within the folders until the designated file is located.
For more complicated hierarchies, the stair structure represents hierarchical relationships through
the use of visual stacking. Visually imagine the top of a downward staircase beginning at the left and
descending on the right. The child elements are towards the bottom of the stairs and the parent
elements are at the top. This structure is effective when representing more complicated hierarchies
where steps are not placed in obvious sequences. Further steps are concealed unless all of the
steps are revealed in sequence. In the computer desktop example, a file that is being sought after
can only be found once another file is opened. The link for the desired file is within another
document. All the steps must be completed until the final destination is reached.

Informal representation[edit]
In plain English, a hierarchy can be thought of as a set in which:[1]

1. No element is superior to itself, and

2. One element, the hierarch, is superior to all of the other elements in the set.
The first requirement is also interpreted to mean that a hierarchy can have no circular relationships;
the association between two objects is always transitive. The second requiremen