Hierarchy (disambiguation)

A hierarchy is an arrangement of units into related levels of different weights or ranks, meaning that levels are considered "higher" or "lower" than one another. The term, which originally meant rule by priests, is now generalised and describes systems with a linear concept of subordinates and superiors and where each level has only 1 direct parent level. Hierarchies are typically depicted as a tree structures.

Hierarchy may also refer to:

Hierarchy (mathematics), the mathematical model of a hierarchical structure as an ordered set
- Containment hierarchy, a hierarchy of only strictly nested sets
Hierarchy (object-oriented programming), also known as inheritance, the creation of new classes from existing classes
Hierarchical database model, a tree-like database model
- Hierarchical query, an SQL query on a hierarchical database
Hierarchical linear modeling, multi-level statistical analysis and linear regression
Hierarchical organization, the structure of most organizations, including governments, businesses and organized religions
- Catholic Church hierarchy
Hierarchical network, the hierarchical of computer network components
Hierarchical control system, a layered model for component organization in software and robotics
Dominance hierarchy, an intraspecific ordering of individuals or groups by power status and dominance
- Social hierarchy, the concept as applied to humans
Memory hierarchy, the hierarchical organization of computer storage for analysis of performance issues
Hierarchy of life, the biological organisation of all life from the atomic level to the biosphere
Hierarchy of genres, any formalization that ranks different types of art genres in an art-form in terms of their value
Hierarchy of values, an ordered list of social values in US law
Hierarchy, an alien race in the Universe at War video game series

See also