A Cross-Species Comparison of Status in Small Established Groups

Seven status characteristics of small established human groups are listed and then compared to the characteristics of a chicken pecking order. Chickens and humans share, at most, three of the seven characteristics. Problems of comparing human and nonhuman behavior are discussed, and a method is suggested which compares behaviors along this series of primates: tree shrew, lemur, squirrel monkey, baboon and macaque, gorilla and chimpanzee, man. The successive primates in the series are increasingly physically similar to man. The seven original status characteristics either appear throughout the primate series or emerge as we move along the series toward man. The cross-species comparison serves as a basis for criticizing several sociological theories of status.