John Muller Blog 6 Heirarchy and Opression

When looking at my daily life it is difficult for me to find an example of an anticipatory strategy being used on myself or somebody around me. However, after much thought I realized that I see these types of reactions on a day to day basis, particularly being a part of a sports team. Being on a team for four years in college I have seen a number of strategies put in place by the coaching staff to prevent themselves from being marginalized or excluded. Going through the displeasures of a coaching change this is particularly prominent in my case. It is not common for a team to become divided in this circumstance with some of the team wanting the training philosophy of a past coach while others wanting the philosophy brought about by a new coach, this is what led to the aforementioned measures in my case.

In the situation I described many members of the team became disgruntled about various aspects of the new coach and held team meetings to make sure everyone was on the same page. With fear of a rebellion the coaching staff would often try to break up these meetings or question members of the team about the nature of these meetings. Although these meetings were not an attempt to overthrow a coaching staff, that is precisely what the coaches feared. I can even think of an instance when a team member questioned a coach in front of the whole team only to receive a suspension from the team. Although these could be several reasons for the suspension it seemed like it was used to send a message to remind the team of the hierarchy that existed and not to question it.

The examples detailed above deal with a case that occurs in my life and many other social structures all over the world. I think the biggest question when there is a hierarchy is when are we able to question what the leader is doing? When is questioning a somebody in an authority role disrespectful verses the right thing to do.