social hierarchy

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Historian Bernard Capp, Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick, explains that hat etiquette once reinforced social hierarchy.

From Science Daily • May 7, 2026

Eckhardt who specialises in consumer behaviour, branding and consumer culture, adds that luxury brands communicate a "person's place in a social hierarchy".

From BBC • Jan. 11, 2026

It becomes “a tool to insert yourself on the social hierarchy and compare yourself to other people, trying to perform for other people, to get the attention of other people.”

From MarketWatch • Nov. 5, 2025

“That social hierarchy can be applied to gender, sexual preference, nationality, your ethnicity, your religion, class or race,” DuVernay says.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 3, 2024

Capping the brainstem is the R-complex, the seat of aggression, ritual, territoriality and social hierarchy, which evolved hundreds of millions of years ago in our reptilian ancestors.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan