Six forms of hierarchy for a theoretical analysis of capitalism

The paper develops a conceptual analysis, which aims at refin-ing the general concept of capitalism through an inquiry aboutthe forms of hierarchy it involves. It is argued that the capitalistregime exhibits a series of specific attributes that have been sofar underinvestigated together and are here comprehensivelyelucidated via the deepening of the concept of hierarchy.Qualitatively, the capitalist social structure is ambivalent, as it isneither the strictarborescent hierarchyexhibited by the feudalsociety, nor theflat partitiondisplayed by the pure market econ-omy; and the complex structure of the capitalist firm is anencompassing hierarchy, capital and labor being associated in aproduction process ruled by capital. Quantitatively, the capitalistpyramidal hierarchiesof income and of wealth are essentiallymobile, through the dynamics of market sanction and assetevaluation; and the relationship between capital bets and profitgains draws atangled hierarchyas these returns are reinvested.All these capitalist hierarchies are typically economic,situationalhierarchiesarising when capitalists do not dominate the politicalorder of power or in the social order of prestige. Finally, echoingpost Keynesian perspectives, the conception of capitalism as ahierarchical phenomenon underlines its monetary structure andits self-transforming nature