Rankism

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Look up Rankism in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Rankism is "abusive, discriminatory, and/or exploitative behavior towards people because of their rank in a particular hierarchy".^[1] Rank-based abuse underlies many other phenomena such as bullying, racism, supremacism (often white supremacy), xenophobia, hazing, ageism, sexism, ableism, mentalism, antisemitism, homophobia and transphobia. The term "rankism" was popularized by physicist, educator, and citizen diplomat Robert W. Fuller.

Rankism can take many forms, including

• exploiting one's position within a hierarchy to secure unwarranted advantages and benefits (e.g. massive corporate bonuses);
• abusing a position of power (e.g., abusive parent or priest, corrupt CEO, bully boss, prisoner abuse);
• using rank as a shield to get away with insulting or humiliating others with impunity;
• using rank to maintain a position of power long after it can be justified;
• exporting the rank achieved in one sphere of activity to claim superior value as a person;
• exploiting rank that is illegitimately acquired or held (as in situations resting on specious distinctions of social rank, such as racism, sexism, intellectualism, wealth, religious beliefs, hereditary, marital status, gang affiliation, criminal record, egotism or classism).

Rankism can occur in any social hierarchy, such as governments, corporations, families, non-profit organizations, and universities.^[2]

The term rankism first appeared in print in the Oberlin Alumni Magazine for fall of 1997.^[3] It later appeared in a book called Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, written by Fuller and published in 2003.^[4]

The first use of the term in a management journal occurred in 2001 in a Leader to Leader Institute article. The piece questioned the abuse of rank in work hierarchies.^[5] The idea of rankism has since been widely covered in the media, including The New York Times, NPR, C-SPAN, The Boston Globe, the BBC, Voice of America, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Other notable references of rankism include Fuller's second book on the subject, All Rise: Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity,^[6] and an action-oriented guide titled Dignity for All: How to Create a World Without Rankism.^[7]

The Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies (Human DHS) network has also accepted the concept of rankism as core to its mission. It asserts, "...the mission we have undertaken at Human DHS is the confrontation of abuse, rankism and the humiliation endemic to it, on the historical scale."^[8]

Professional mediator Julia Ann Wambach uses Fuller's definition of rankism to explore the abuse of position within a hierarchy from both up and down the lines of power, including how rankism feeds on itself in group contexts.^[9]

According to Fuller, the abuse of rank is experienced by victims as an affront to their dignity.^[10] Fuller and his supporters have launched a new social movement to promote the creation of a dignitarian society. The Dignity Movement's goal is to overcome rankism in the same way that the civil rights movement and women's movements target racism and sexism.

• Abuse
• Bullying
• Caste
• Class discrimination
• Discrimination
• Elitism
• Exploitation
• Minority influence
• Power harassment
• Ranked society
• Structural violence
• Supremacism

• Berger, Daniel (August 2005). "Book review: Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank". Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. 198 (8): 571. doi:10.1097/01.nmd.0000172656.22250.24. Archived from the original on 2013-01-11.
• Ehrenreich, Barbara (2008). This Land is Their Land: Reports from a Divided Nation. New York: Metropolitan Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-8840-3.
• Kleiner, Art (2004). "Diversity and its discontents". Strategy + Business (Spring 2004).
• Knisely, Robert (April 2003). "Rank prejudice". Washington Monthly. 35 (4).
• Richardson, Elaina; Richards, David; Cale, Timothy (April 2003). "Respect". O Magazine. 83 (31–34): 3549. doi:10.1080/14786430310001599405. S2CID 135956512.
• Scheff, Thomas (2009). "7: A New Goffman: Robert W. Fuller's Politics of Dignity". In Jacobsen, Michael (ed.). The Contemporary Goffman. Routledge. pp. 185–198. ISBN 978-0-415-99681-5.
• Schultz, Connie (January 14, 2006). "Taking it out on the clerks". The Cleveland Plain Dealer.
• Wambach, Julie Ann (2008). Battles between Somebodies and Nobodies: Combat Abuse of Rank at Work and at Home. Brookside Press. ISBN 978-0-9814818-0-7.

• Academe Online – Anonymous, (September/October 2006) "Class Issues Outside the Classroom"
• Brazen Careerist – Penelope Trunk, (August 27, 2006) "Battle Cry Against Power Tripping" interview with Robert Fuller, at Brazen Careerist
• Breaking Ranks – Bibliography on Fuller's website
• Breaking Ranks – Other articles by Fuller
• Canadian Living – Diana Fisher, "Rankism: Bullying someone of a lower rank at work"
• Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies – an organization composed of over one thousand academics and practitioners from around the globe dedicated to confronting humiliation
• Dignity – SpiritualWiki article
• Right-Rank.com Archived 2006-06-14 at the Wayback Machine – Right-rank is the use of communication skills by anyone within a hierarchy to promote respect for the dignity of everyone regardless of position.
• SomebodyBook.com – I Feel Like Nobody When... I Feel Like a Somebody When... (children's book that introduces issues related to rankism), Stephanie Heuer (2005)
• YubaNet.com – '"Executive" monkeys influenced by other executives, not subordinates', Duke University Medical Center (March 22, 2006)