How Personal Social Rank Changes Behavior
The foundations of the dominance hierarchy system developed at least before our most recent ancestor split from chimps and bonobos, and probably as far back as our pre-simian ancestors, as many simian species utilize dominance hierarchies. The effect social rank has on our behavioral patterns is deeply baked into our unconscious.
Research has consistently shown an individual’s self-perceived dominance in a situation alters everything from tone of voice to pheromones, risk-taking behavior, monogamy, posture, gate, and even arousal pathways (we discovered the arousal pathways effect through a study we conducted for The Pragmatist’s Guide to Sexuality). We point this out to dispel any lingering hopes that this is a minor system that can be ignored or dismissed when navigating governing structures.
Consider that unemployed individuals have much lower testosterone levels and those lower testosterone levels will change both a person’s behavior and body composition. Your biology will literally adapt to your position in society, which is kind of nuts.