The Pecking Order

Social Hierarchy as a Philosophical Problem

Niko Kolodny

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English

Harvard University Press
15 June 2023

Social & political philosophy; Social classes; Social theory; Political economy

A trenchant case for a novel philosophical position: that our political thinking is driven less by commitments to freedom or fairness than by an aversion to hierarchy.

Niko Kolodny argues that, to a far greater extent than we recognize, our political thinking is driven by a concern to avoid relations of inferiority. In order to make sense of the most familiar ideas in our political thought and discourse-the justification of the state, democracy, and rule of law, as well as objections to paternalism and corruption-we cannot merely appeal to freedom, as libertarians do, or to distributive fairness, as liberals do. We must instead appeal directly to claims against inferiority-to the conviction that no one should stand above or below.

The problem of justifying the state, for example, is often billed as the problem of reconciling the state with the freedom of the individual. Yet, Kolodny argues, once we press hard enough on worries about the state's encroachment on the individual, we end up in opposition not to unfreedom but to social hierarchy. To make his case, Kolodny takes inspiration from two recent trends in philosophical thought: on the one hand, the revival of the republican and Kantian traditions, with their focus on domination and dependence; on the other, relational egalitarianism, with its focus on the effects of the distribution of income and wealth on our social relations.

The Pecking Order offers a detailed account of relations of inferiority in terms of objectionable asymmetries of power, authority, and regard. Breaking new ground, Kolodny looks ahead to specific kinds of democratic institutions that could safeguard against such relations.

By: Niko Kolodny
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 34mm
Weight: 839g
ISBN: 9780674248151
ISBN 10: 0674248155
Pages: 496
Publication Date: 15 June 2023
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Niko Kolodny is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews for The Pecking Order: Social Hierarchy as a Philosophical Problem

The Pecking Order provides a powerful articulation and defense of its master idea of noninferiority. That idea is already percolating through political philosophy, but nobody has done anything like the systematic development of it that Kolodny achieves. This book stands out for its ability to animate so many different debates in political philosophy through a single idea, deploying it to address a wider range and variety of moral and political phenomena. Carefully argued, clearly written, and remarkable for both the depth of its analysis and the scope of its engagement, Kolodny's book is one that everyone working in political philosophy and many in democratic theory will want to read. -- Arthur Ripstein, author of Force and Freedom In this far-reaching study, Niko Kolodny illuminates everyone's fundamental interest in being an equal. The claim against hierarchy-against being socially subordinate to others-is offered as a key to more stuck doors in political philosophy than other time-honored projects around freedom and equality, liberalism, and democracy. Relentless in method and vivid in style, the book will be widely studied, and rightly so. -- David Estlund, author of Utopophobia This book is smart, provocative, timely, and deeply informed. It engages and carries to a new level of clarity and sophistication a set of themes associated with social egalitarianism. It also offers as comprehensive a critical view of central themes in recent democratic theory as I can imagine. Reading The Pecking Order is a rare and bracing experience. -- Charles R. Beitz, author of The Idea of Human Rights