Comments on: Battle cry against power tripping

By: Barbara Saunders

Barbara Saunders — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 22:58:16 +0000

I published a short article on Ezine (linked from my name) about technophobia as rankism.

By: Emily Starbuck Gerson

Emily Starbuck Gerson — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 17:53:30 +0000

Wow, I wish the higher-ups at a magazine I once interned at read this…nowhere NEAR as bad as Devil Wears Prada, but the interns were not treated well, and not taught much. One time I even overheard a writer say, "I don't want to do it…just give it to the interns." The absolute worst is that I didn't get paid, and they wouldn't even cover my $40/month parking there! Have some respect for the peons. Maybe it's because it was corporate…all of my internships after that were at independent places that treated interns much better.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 19:59:56 +0000

My work environment, one which does value its people with lots of monetary and other tangible benefits, is one where rankism still exists and is very prevelant. I believe it comes down to emotion – fear. The "name invokers" are an excellent example. They fear displeasing Mr. General Manager, and associate pleasing Mr. GM as increasing their probability of a promotion or more $$.

One way to implement Penelope's argument I believe is to help create a culture where benefits and promotions aren't tied to making one particular individual happy. However, given that students who make the teacher happy and do something the teacher's way are more likely to be rewarded on their report card, this habit is very familiar to us and drilled into our heads for at least 12 consecutive (and highly formative) years.

By: KV

KV — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 15:47:41 +0000

After reading the posts, I think it is much easier to recognize when one is a "victim" of rankism, but much harder to recognize when you actually might be promoting it. I doubt anyone would do this consciously, which is why I think it should be recognized.

Think about a time when you were introduced to an individual, and later found out that they were a C level executive, or an Ivy League MBA Grad. Did your behaviour change at all? Did your behaviour change so you tried to be more likeable, or paid more attention. If you did, I believe it is a way of acknowledging value in the rank.

I don't think that its always wrong to do that (after all, you should surround yourself with people smarter than you, and to do that, they have to like you), but to be able to shift your paradigm, you have to be conscious of it first.

By: Penelope Trunk

Penelope Trunk — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:47:00 +0000

I think those people Alexandra is talking about — the name invokers — are so lacking in confidence. Anyone with any leadership skills would give a reason beyond Mr. Big Guy wants it.

So I find myself drawing another conclusion: That rankism is directly related to self-confidence – invertedly, or whatever that word is for oppositely.

By: Alexandra Levit

Alexandra Levit — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 19:33:31 +0000

My favorite symptom of rankism is when people invoke the names of higher ups to get you to do something, as in: "Mr. General Manager wants the new purchase order process implemented this way." Apparently it's not good enough for a regular old employee to initiate change, because a lot of people feel they must "invoke" in order to make their words the gospel.

By: chakragold

chakragold — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 15:04:05 +0000

I loved this column. I have been experiencing this type of behavior for a while now, but didn't know quite what to call it because it's projected from people from various walks of life and races. But the one common denominator is a superiority complex due to, IMO, their job titles. It's as if they perceive someone with a lower "ranking" job title as not in their league at work, in particular, but mainly in general in life. Someone once told me that a job title reflects your inner drive and motivation; that if you have one that is lower on the totem pole that means you don't have much motivation to have a better one. I totally disagreed with this because it doesn't account for circumstances beyond one's control or just where you may be in life relatively speaking. However, in my work environment, this attitude of rankism seems to be promoted and encouraged.

By: Penelope Trunk

Penelope Trunk — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 04:37:52 +0000

These comments make me think about teamwork. I think a company that encourages real teams — those that are temporary and project-based — is a company that encourages dignity. I say this because an essential value of a top-functioing team is that everyone's contribution matters.

By: breakingranks

breakingranks — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:11:19 +0000

As a call center employee, I ran into that attitude a lot. Every time I tried to take initiative and show I could stretch my skills, I was told "we hired someone for that". The (mostly minority) women who worked in the call center were never allowed to meet or mingle with the mysterious folk who had "been hired" to do these jobs. A dignitarian organization would look for and appreciate ideas from its lower level employees.

By: David Christiansen

David Christiansen — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 11:38:10 +0000

Another way to fight Rankism is to talk about the positive effect of letting everyone contribute. If people are overly uptight about "roles" and say things like "That's not his job – he should just keep his mouth shut," you know you have a problem.

If you have a problem being "rankist", try to remember the following maxim: Anyone who can contribute should be allowed to. If you start to think this way, you will stop rankist behavior.