Hierarchy and Value

Jason Hickel is an anthropologist at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research spans several related themes, including political conflict, inequality, postdevelopment, and ecological economics. He is the author of Democracy as Death: The Moral Order of Anti-Liberal Politics in South Africa (University of California Press, 2015) and The Divide: A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions (Penguin, 2017). He writes a column on political economy for The Guardian and Al Jazeera, sits on the executive board of Academics Stand Against Poverty, and serves as Policy Director for The Rules collective. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

• Introduction: Hierarchy and ValueNaomi Haynes and Jason HickelChapter 1. Battle of Cosmologies: The Catholic Church, Adat, and ‘Inculturation’ among Northern Lio, IndonesiaSigne HowellChapter 2. Vertical Love: Forms of Submission and Top-Down Power in Orthodox EthiopiaDiego Maria Malara and Tom BoylstonChapter 3. The Good, the Bad, and the Dead: The Place of Destruction in the Organization of Social Life, Which Means HierarchyFrederick H. DamonChapter 4. Civilization, Hierarchy, and Political-Economic InequalityStephan FeuchtwangChapter 5. Islam and Pious Sociality: The Ethics of Hierarchy in the Tablighi Jamaat in PakistanArsalan KhanChapter 6. Demotion as Value: Rank Infraction among the Ngadha in Flores, IndonesiaOlaf H. SmedalAfterword: The Rise of HierarchyDavid Graeber

“It is to the credit of the writers in this volume that they illuminate and question [some of the] things that Dumont linked to hierarchy. In doing so, they help make hierarchies problematic and linked to social processes and practices in ways that Dumont probably did not intend but that make the notion of hierarchy more useful as an analytical concept.” • Anthropos