Pecking order in humans means a social hierarchy or ranking of dominance, status and power within a group.
This is similar to how chickens establish their order by pecking, but humans use subtler cues like skill, wealth, popularity and or authority instead of using physical aggression.
The pecking order in humans is what dictates who leads, who follows and who also gets preferential treatment, which creates structured roles in families as well as workplaces, schools and society.
The term pecking order originated from chickens using pecking to show who eats, who roosts and who access the resources first.
Pecking order is the colloquial term for chickens, but the scientific term for pecking order is dominance hierarchy, which applies to many social animals, which include birds and mammals to describe their linear rank.
A pecking order is the unwritten social hierarchy or ranking within any group, where members know their relative status, power or importance.
This is much like the chickens, who establish their dominance by pecking and it's essentially about who's boss, who's second in command and who's at the bottom, which is often also seen in friend groups, families or even in offices.
Hierarchy is a clear structure of ranks, from most important to least important.
And status and power determines who has authority or influence, often informally.
Another term for pecking order is hierarchy, food chain, ranking, ladder, standing, scale, graduation, distribution, series and disposal.
A pecking order is a hierarchy of status that is seen among members of a group of people or animals, which was originally as observed among hens.
The pecking order is the hierarchy of dominance within a flock, establishing of order in chicken society and allowing everyone to coexist peacefully.
Pecking orders are a natural behavior, which ensures survival and stability for each member of the group, but just like in human politics you can also bet that it involves lots of squabbling.
Fallen down the pecking order means that someone has lost their status or influence or even priority in a social hierarchy and has become less important or subordinate.
The meaning of the saying that someone has fallen down the pecking order is similar to that of a chicken in a flock being pushed down lower by more dominant birds who also get first access to food, better spots or mates.
Fallen down the pecking order basically is what signifies a drop from a higher rank to a lower rank, often due to being challenged for failing to maintain one's position.
The term fallen down the pecking order, comes from actual chicken flocks, in which the dominant birds peck subordinate ones to establish who eats, who roosts and or who mates first.
For hierarchy in human groups, work, family and society, fallen down the pecking order refers to a ranking of importance, privilege or power.
Losing rank in fallen down the pecking order is to fall down, which means moving from a higher tier to a lower tier, losing advantages.
Examples of the use of fallen down the pecking order include.
In business, the fallen down the pecking order could be that a manager who makes a bad decision, might find that their ideas carry less weight, so they fall down the company's internal pecking order.
In social groups, fallen down a pecking order can refer to, a once popular friend who becomes unreliable, and so they may be pushed to the fringes and lower down the social pecking order.
Or another example of fallen down the pecking order would be.
The sibling with greatest status is at the top of the order, and the sibling with the least status is at the bottom.
This order is what is called a pecking order.