The process by which an innovation or concept moves from a powerful person or higher authority to lower levels of a social hierarchy is known as hierarchical diffusion. In structured systems, where information travels through channels that mirror the social structure, this diffusion frequently occurs, allowing particular ideas to infiltrate particular groups before spreading to larger populations. This is known as one of the cultural diffusion.
As long as people have arranged their societies into hierarchies, a process called stratification, and hierarchical diffusion has occurred. Although the word “diffusion” is new, having emerged in the era of social media, it refers to a process that existed before nations and agrarian civilizations.
The diffusion from those of high rank, including shamans and other religious leaders, in hunter-gatherer tribes. From one to a few, the shaman’s vision or notion spread among the group’s older and wiser members. A few people embraced the idea and shared it with the rest of their group. This is the three-tier example of hierarchical diffusion.
In the present context, influential people like leaders, celebrities, or big businesses frequently use hierarchical diffusion to introduce new trends to their followers. These diffused new ideas or practices are easily adopted by urban areas first, then rural ones.
Sometimes reverse hierarchical diffusion occurs from many people of lower hierarchy to the upward direction to few governing people and one powerful man. For example, sometimes people’s movements are compelled to make liberal for people’s welfare to the political leaders.
The figure shows that a leader or a powerful person is a legend. He diffuses innovative ideas or practices to some persons (the first adapter) close to him and then the second person diffuses ideas and practices to the public.
Some Examples of Hierarchical Diffusion
1. Hierarchical diffusion of political decisions
The government issues laws and acts hierarchically from central government to provincial and local units. The law-making process ideally diffuses in the reverse hierarchy (voters), but the central government enforces laws once lawmakers pass them. Top-down hierarchical diffusion often relies on emergency because the efficient government uses emergency power to stop some of the reverse hierarchical diffusion.
For example, Governors were in charge of enforcing COVID-19 emergency orders in US states, which were based on federal government standards. Governors ordered businesses to close, and owners had to force their staff to comply. Through message and enforcement, vaccination policies, social distancing, and other pandemic-related behaviors spread down in the social hierarchy.
There are several examples of hierarchical diffusion. One might be the broad legalization of gay marriage in the Western world in the early 2010s. Gay marriage was allowed in countries including the USA, UK, and Canada, in part because of a grassroots movement that went against the grain of hierarchical diffusion. However, the hierarchical impact on the instructions after the government legalized it. In certain nations, for instance, health insurance companies were prohibited from discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation.
2. Hierarchical diffusion in Economics
Despite concepts like “trickle-down economics,” a market-based system does not always have a hierarchical flow of money and fiscal policy. However, there is some hierarchy: a few larger organizations, such as banks, depend on a single central government-affiliated organization, such as the Federal Reserve Board or a central bank, which in turn leads to a large number of borrowers. However, product marketing is more pertinent to the spread of mentifacts.
Because commercial marketing depends on messages and (often) images and even films, it is partially a cultural activity. Contagious diffusion, or word-of-mouth marketing, does occur, but hierarchical diffusion is a more economical corporate marketing tactic.
Theoretically, a hierarchy of multiple layers is not required nowadays because any individual or business looking to market a product may instantly reach millions of people online. Successful marketing uses intermediates (intermediate nodes) like social media influencers to target various geographic markets and demographics with different advertising in a multi-tiered plan.
3. Hierarchical diffusion of culture
Globally renowned celebrities like Brad Pitt and Zac Efron of Hollywood wear the latest fashion. This could set the pattern for bringing those new styles to the general public. This is a classic example of hierarchical diffusion of dress culture, with the famous actors starting “at the top” and the culture descending from those influencers.
Second, Hollywood movies are a powerful global ambassador for American culture. More Hollywood films than any other will be shown in theaters worldwide. In the era of globalization, we frequently refer to the spread of US culture as “Americanization,” a term that many anti-globalists decry.
One of the world’s fashion capitals is Paris. For ages, the Western world has been influenced by the styles brought from Paris. Paris Fashion Week is a twice-yearly event when leading fashion designers showcase their latest creations. These styles can influence other fashion shows worldwide and trickle down to annual fashions.
4. Hierarchical diffusion of religion
The spread of religion from powerful figures or locations to other regions is known as hierarchical diffusion. For instance, the Roman Emperor Constantine accepted Christianity and expanded it throughout their domains, and other rulers did the same. Similarly, when Ashoka and other emperors supported Buddhism, it spread.
One well-known example of a centralized organization is the Catholic Church. Any modifications to Catholic theology must originate at the highest level. They have the power to interpret the Bible and take stances on contentious topics like abortion and sexuality. Any changes the Church makes to its teaching “trickle down” to the Catholic Church’s entire culture. It influences priests’ and laypeople’s discussions and even their behavior. Being non-organic, this hierarchical method of culture diffusion is among the most structured.
