A Pyramidal Society

by Thomas Sim, 9 June, 2002

We live in a system of democracy. In this system, every member of the society is free to express or reject ideas at one's will, based on cultural, religious and economics background.

If given another system of government, can human civilization be different?

The answer to that is probably a NO! My reason is that man still live within the system of pyramidal society. This system is the oldest, the most practiced system on this planet. This article is centered around this phenomenon.

The pyramidal society is the essence of human civilization, or at least it is fully recognised by the success of the multilevel marketing business, even in this cyber era.

I attempt to illustrate this phenomena using the resource model.

Our society is build upon a few key resources: Capital, Capability and Charisma, which I call the Pyramidal 3Cs.

Capital

If you are not used to the financial jargon, this simply means monetary resources. The simple scenario is the boss earns a lot of money, workers work very hard but only earn a little. The rule is money gets filtered away in the top down manner that the higher social stratum you go, the more capital resources are there to earn. In short, earn money from the tip of pyramid - wives of rich politicians, businessmen, professionals, royalties, celebrities, etc is easier than the lower hard-work-pay-little workers. The trick is: strike hard and make a damn good impression or else, you will be easily forgotten. Rich people's gray matters are short-lived and many people are after their money too!

Capability

This is the most reliable but the most difficult way (among the three) to survive in the society. Basically, you must be a professional - in something that you can do that others can't. That takes a lot of hard work, sacrifices and endurance. If you are the best cardiologist in town, yes! You will make a damn good living! You can be arrogant, selfish and self-centered and nobody can do anything to you; there is no choice for them - you are the best! This classification would be pyramidal in such a way that the society look up to the best cardiologist, and less affordable people would end up in 'normal' hands, or in extreme situations, become guinea pigs for 'bomohs'. In fact, it shows the mere fact that nothing comes without effort, no pain, no gain, i.e. suffer to reach the top.

Charisma/Contact

This is how some people who have no money and no capability succeeded in our society. They did it with a gifted attitude towards life and people. This category includes sales people and politicians. They are bunch of 'determined and dare to die' people who would rub on the energy to others and make it a group effort till his/her aim is reached. The most charismatic person would be the highest in the hierarchy and his/her followers would carry out his/her aspirations (which sound like the groups' aspiration, rather) and because of his/her leadership and sacrifices, he/she becomes the obvious end receiver of any economic returns. The more charismatic a person is, the higher up the pyramid is him/her.

Pyramidal society is a natural phenomenon. It happens in animal kingdom, though in a less sophisticated form - by getting very physical obviously. If man reflects itself of this characteristic, why man denies itself as another member of the animal kingdom?