hierarchy

noun3

1. •
   A body of authoritative officials organized in nested ranks.
2. •
   A social, religious, economic or political system or organization in which people or groups of people are ranked with some superior to others based on their status, authority or some other trait.

   • Social defeat arises in strict social hierarchies in which the few dominate the many. Overcrowding exacerbates the many ills of social defeat within these social hierarchies based on dominance. — 2023
3. •
   Any group of objects ranked so that every one but the topmost is subordinate to a specified one above it.