an arrangement where some relationships carry more structural weight or precedence than others by design, not just circumstance, often in the language of primary and secondary. people mean two different things by it. descriptive hierarchy just names honest differences: a partner you live with and a partner you see monthly really are different in daily life, without either holding power over the other. prescriptive hierarchy gives one relationship actual authority over another, a partner who can limit, slow, or end your other connections. the second is the contested kind, because the power lands hardest on the person with the least say.
want to talk about Hierarchy with people who live it?
definition contributed by Tessakin