Well, it does seem to make a lot of sense but I don't think there is much research to actually support it. I don't remember where I read that now it's not considered very useful (I do remember it was in at least a couple of places), but the wikipedia page lists mentions at least one reference against it (Wahba, A; Bridgewell, L (1976). "Maslow reconsidered: A review of research on the need hierarchy theory"), and not so many references in its favor.<p>As for what has replaced it, AFAIK it wasn't one "thing" as simple as the hierarchy was, but simply more research about the issue. There is a lot of literature on the subject, and a lot of it by Maslow himself.