The Origin of Influence Hierarchies: The Role of Visible and Obscure Status Characteristics in the Emergence of Elite Social Hierarchies

Although influence hierarchies are a crucial part of social life, the process by which they emerge is not well-understood. We propose that status characteristics and social identity processes work together to generate social hierarchies. Visible (readily observable) status characteristics restrict information and opportunities for interaction, creating homogenous local interaction contexts. Within these contexts, however, influential actors reveal obscure characteristics (intimate, self-differentiating details about themselves) yielding further status distinctions and the formation of multiple highly localized hierarchical influence structures. We find support for our arguments in analyses of influence structures among elites in a large American city, but we argue that the processes can be generalized to understand other types of hierarchies in a range of settings. I nfluence hierArchies are critical to understanding social interaction. In nearly all social settings, some actors possess traits or act in ways that allow them to alter the behaviors or beliefs of others. Influence occurs when a lower-status actor yields to the preferences of a higher-status actor. Theorists have acknowledged that influence is a fundamental component of social systems (Blau 1964; Gould 2002; Homans 1961; Veblen 1899), and understanding how influence shapes social interaction has generated an extensive literature on relations in small groups (Berger, Cohen, and Zelditch 1972; Berger, et al 1977; Ridgeway, et al 1998; Webster and Hysom 1998). Individual actors influence each other in relatively common everyday contexts such as interpersonal systems LISA A. KEISTER is Professor of Sociology at Duke University. She is the author of several books, most recently of Getting Rich: America’s New Rich and How They Got That Way (2005). BENJAMIN CORNWELL is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Cornell University.