Jay Hanson quotes:
>"If you took a zoologist from another planet, showed him our
> family tree, and pointed out that the three species nearest
> our limb were inherently hierarchical, he would probably
> guess that we are too. If you then told him that hierarchy
> is indeed found in every human society where people have
> looked closely for it, and among children too young to talk,
> he might well consider the case closed." [p. 242, Wright,
> THE MORAL ANIMAL]

Okay, let's be a bit more specific.  Which three species are referred to
here?  I do believe that the construction of this family tree is a source of
continuing disagreement amongst terrestrial zoologists.

Moreover, we homo sapiens are, by some measures, relatively distant from our
species relatives.  I was just talking to the chimpanzee who runs the coffee
shop across the street, and he largely agreed with me on this.  Sadly, the
conversation was prematurely terminated when he began flinging his feces at
the customers.  Since I've been eating too much cheese lately, I couldn't
respond in kind and so will have to wait for a more opportune moment to gain
further insights.  I'll keep you updated, though.

Also the notion that hierarchy has been seen in every human society where
people have looked closely enough for it seems a bit tendentious.  Where some
societies have been found that don't seem to have hierarchy, I suppose Mr
Wright would say no one looked closely enough, neh?  As for contemporary
human societies, I would say that they've all pretty much been
warped/influence/changed (I'm trying for a non-normative term) by industrial
capitalism to one extent or another.  One of the last hunter gatherer
societies that was studied by modern anthropologists, the !Kung, were widely
reported to exhibit little or no hierarchy.  Since many anthropologists
believe homo sapiens (and their hominid precursors) lived as hunter gatherers,
it doesn't seem too much of a stretch to then conclude that many of our
"natural" tendencies would fit in better in a non-hierarchical society, i.e.
we'd be much happier campers.

And pre-verbal children?  I really don't think they have the wherewithal to
create a society by themselves--and the "natural" maturation of humans
includes socialization more so than any other animal I can think of, so I
don't think that we can draw conclusions about a "natural" or "normal" human
society from their behavior.

At any rate, I think homo sapiens have an ability we call reason that frees
us to some degree from a pre-ordained pattern of society.  The change from
hunter gatherer to agricultural to industrial societies with large variations
in the social structure in each should show us that.  So let's use that
reason to create a society where we can satisfy our natural needs and
inclinations while allowing all the other homo sapiens to do the same.
Wouldn't that be neato?