Hierarchia dominancie – posúdenie jej benefitov a možných rizík pre edukačnú prax

In the article, the authors evaluate the role of hierarchical orders in the process of the establishment of human communities. They focus mainly on those aspects of these processes that are meaningful for educational practices. They aim to show the advantages that hierarchical architecture of status relations can bring. This phenomenon is not seen as solely bio-anthropological but as cultural and historical as well and the authors also thematise the limits beyond which the hierarchy of dominance ceases to be productive and becomes a problem that has important educational consequences. The authors differentiate between factors responsible for the creation of hierarchical structures in small and big groups. They propose an outline for a research that could test the relevance of the introduced theoretical construct in assessing class climate and efficiency of school work in student groups of selective schools. The authors also attempt to focus the attention of pedagogy on the notion of rankism which refers to the abuse of dominant position in a given hierarchical order. Thus they want to offer educators another tool to better understand what is going on in student groups.