Chapter 5 - Findings and Suggestions for Further Research

Summary

This chapter lists the major findings of the book, acknowledges the limitations of its analysis, and lists a number of topics for future research that the book suggests. The four most important findings are as follows: (1) The struggle between hierarchs and resisters to hierarchy is conducted in large part in moral terms because each side must form and sustain coalitions, and morality is an important resource for doing this because compliance with moral norms removes or reduces the most important obstacles to effective coalition-building. (2) The struggle is co-evolutionary, with the interaction of opposing moral appeals, resulting in the construction of new moral concepts, principles, and justifications for the rightful accession to and uses of unequal power. (3) Under certain conditions, this struggle results in social changes that are deemed progressive from the standpoint of a wide range of moralities. (4) There is no guarantee that the struggle will in the long-run produce morally progressive results, and what progress has been achieved was highly contingent upon a fortuitous convergence of conditions; nevertheless, the fact that there have been recurring patterns of progressive change indicates that further progress is possible.