Emotion and Hierarchical Identity

Abstract Hierarchies are critical structural elements that shape identity in groups and organizations. Following a social-functional view, emotion is one of the main ways that groups, and individuals within groups, define their own identities and navigate these social hierarchies. Thus, to understand hierarchy, one must consider emotions. This is a challenging task, however, due to the “affective revolution” changing the understanding of the role of emotion in the workplace at the same time as an emerging “hierarchical revolution” reshapes understanding of the nature of hierarchy in organizations. To understand the current state of the emotion and hierarchy literatures in organizational behavior, the authors of this chapter consider the nature of hierarchical emotion itself. Established paradigms of hierarchical emotion in organizations focus on the emotional foundations of hierarchy through its influence on (a) perceptual, (b) behavioral, and (c) interactional dynamics. Building on this, the authors describe how emotion produced by a hierarchical ordering of socially valued resources reproduces or challenges the hierarchy itself in a self-organizing manner. This self-organizing process enables the ongoing co-production of leadership and followership identity. The authors conclude by discussing theoretical and practical implications for work on emotion and hierarchical identity stemming from this new perspective.