Hierarchy of human beings has always existed and even today it does.
The German sociologist Max Weber has infamously said, “ The fates of human beings are not equal”. He continues to say that whoever is in a favored position has an endless need to look at his standing as legitimate and deserving; and the people below him are undeserving.
Donald Trump, in his campaign, has often traversed Max Weber’s route where he considers people who receive healthcare, food stamps as undeserving. Any support to them is feeding off the deserving and so is illegitimate.
This undeserving community, according to cult belief, is majorly African-Americans who have been dehumanized historically in the US.
And the trend is catching up in other countries that have seen a rise in right-wing populism in the last half a century.
In India, the concept Varna in ancient Hinduism, refers to the four classes of people. The top tier has the intellectual thinkers, the second top tier carries the administrators and warriors, the third top tier contains merchants and the fourth top tier consists of workers and laborers.
If you think the lowest tier has the undeserving and illegitimate, then you are wrong.
The untouchable class of people is not anywhere in the four tier. They are the outcasts and are not included in the Varna.
Gorillas and Honey bees
In the animal kingdom, a group of mountain gorillas are led by an alpha male gorilla. It has the sheer strength and power to become the leader of the pack because it can outperform any other member in the group and gain access to food, water and other resources.
So the remaining members of the group identify the alpha male as a leader and seek protection of their territory and resources from external threats.
There are species that are led by females, alpha females, as well. For example honey bees, and Pods of Orca or the killer whales are led by a female member. Hush! Let the Fascists not know about the alpha females.
Fascism is bringing the animal order into human society by choosing a strongman, an alpha male mostly (not alpha female), to protect the species.
Social Dominance Theory suggests that the hierarchy of different social groups is maintained by discrimination and aggression.Examples include sexism, racism, etc.
Keeping the undeserved in the lower rung
A Fascist perspective is that while the dominant groups become aggressive, the unprivileged members of the society are expected to remain submissive, as dictated by the law of nature.
When liberal democracy argues for universal equality, the aggressors protest against them, harass them, and take several steps to maintain the natural order they believe in.
Anti-immigration laws, abortion laws, military spending are measures taken by the aggressors to keep the undeserving from gaining an equal status in the society.
They also deploy aggression and violence to showcase their strength so that the underserved remain intimidated and be where they are and try not to move up the order.
So the aggressors will actively move their pieces to legitimizing myths that they are the superior and the dominant class.
The three levels of dominance
Social dominance will happen on multiple levels. One at the personal level, where a member who believes is dominant will discriminate against the other.
And they expect to face no consequences for their behavior because they are affluent and have the resources to discriminate against anybody.
Second level is the aggregation of such individual discrimination.
For example, if an African American person is denied a job due to his racial status, it can become a new normal where members of that particular community are denied a job, mostly.
And the third level is the institution where one or multiple communities of people are discriminated against systematically in a country.
This is when democracies die in darkness.
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