The Ecology of Freedom (1982)
&gt; My use of the word hierarchy in the subtitle of this work is meant to be provocative. There is a strong theoretical need to contrast hierarchy with the more widespread use of the words class and State; careless use of these terms can produce a dangerous simplification of social reality. To use the words hierarchy, class, and State interchangeably, as many social theorists do, is insidious and obscurantist. This practice, in the name of a &quot;classless&quot; or &quot;libertarian&quot; society, could easily conceal the existence of hierarchical relationships and a hierarchical sensibility, both of which — even in the absence of economic exploitation or political coercion — would serve to perpetuate unfreedom.<p>&gt; By hierarchy, I mean the cultural, traditional and psychological systems of obedience and command, not merely the economic and political systems to which the terms class and State most appropriately refer. Accordingly, hierarchy and domination could easily continue to exist in a &quot;classless&quot; or &quot;Stateless&quot; society. I refer to the domination of the young by the old, of women by men, of one ethnic group by another, of &quot;masses&quot; by bureaucrats who profess to speak in their &quot;higher social interests,&quot; of countryside by town, and in a more subtle psychological sense, of body by mind, of spirit by a shallow instrumental rationality, and of nature by society and technology. Indeed, classless but hierarchical societies exist today (and they existed more covertly in the past); yet the people who live in them neither enjoy freedom, nor do they exercise control over their lives.<p>No one&#x27;s going to have time to read this whole thing to comment here, but I skimmed some of it and I get the impression that this guy wants to <i>comprehensively</i> eliminate &quot;hierarchy&quot; in favor of &quot;freedom.&quot;  That kind of thing strikes me as one of those perhaps philosophically satisfying but completely impractical ideas.  I really doubt humans were built to implement such a radical vision (maybe something very far in that direction is possible, but not so complete as implied here).