Hierarchical Stress

In primates, being the bottom of the hierarchy is stressful.  All the dominants bite you, and you have no one to bite.  Unfortunately this is true of Capitalist Society as well.  This episode explores the relationship between hierarchy and stress and offers solutions for the individual and the greater society.

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
I
wanted
to
ask
you
a
question.
I
just
it's
fascinating
that
you
when
you
you
talked
about
gender
references
and
you
you
you
then
had
to
make
a
you
had
to
kind
of.
I
just
wanted
to
talk
about
this.
I
don't
know
that
recording
it
is
going
to
be
necessary,
but
you
talked
about
the
use
like
I'm
making
gendered
references

(00:27):
and
then
you
kind
of
apologized
for
that
and
talked
about
when
you
you
know,
when
when
you
talk
about
that
in
class,
do
you
have
to
backtrack
that
when
you
say,
you
know,
a
father
and
a
mother
raising
a
kid
in
class,
do
you
then
say,
all
right,
I'm
a
biologist.
This
is
why. 121 00:00:43,074 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
I
feel
a
should
I
really
feel
I
should
do
students. 133 00:00:46,314 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
Too.
So
how
do
students
respond? 140 00:00:47,754 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:

(00:47):
Like,
they
appreciate
it. 145 00:00:49,164 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
They
do. 148 00:00:49,704 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
They
appreciate
it.
No,
because
the
majority
of
students
are
also
in
this
binary
world.
They
are
living
in
a
male
dominated. 171 00:00:59,334 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
Whether. 173 00:00:59,664 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
Or
not
binary
world. 178 00:01:00,744 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
Or
not,
they
are
binary.
They
are
living
in
a
binary
world
yet. 192 00:01:03,684 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
And
most
of
them
sort
of
follow
that
world.
If
they're
a
female,
they're
going

(01:07):
to
date
a
male,
and
a
male
is
going
to
date
a
female,
but
not
all
of
them.
So
more
common
than
non-binary
people
are
people
who
are
gay,
who
might
be
a
woman
dating
woman
or
a
man
dating
a
man.
And
so
I
have
more
of
those
students
that
I'm
going
to
have
someone
who
is
completely
non-binary.
Mm
hmm.
So
far,
I
have
not

(01:27):
had
any
non-binary
people
in
my
class 282 00:00:00,-01 --> 00:01:31,104 , but 283 00:00:00,-01 --> 00:00:00,-01
we're
so
much
more
aware
of
it
that
students
want
to
hear
about
this. 298 00:01:36,294 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
So
rather
than
so
soon,
what
you're
saying
is
it's
just
out
of
your
mouth
comes
a
mother
and
a
father
raising
a
baby.
You
don't
you
haven't
been
able
to
change
that
to
two
people
raising
a
baby. 338 00:01:46,704 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
It
sounds
strange

(01:48):
as
a
biologist
to
talk
about.
And
so
I
want
I
want
to
I
want
to
I
want
to
at
least
have
the
students
have
cognitive
dissonance. 369 00:01:55,214 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
Do
you
do
you
think,
though,
that
in
25
years
a
professor
in
your
position
will
be
saying
to
people
having
a
baby
just
completely
naturally
without
feeling
that
it's. 400 00:02:02,094 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
I
don't
know
about
that.
We
have
a
lot
of
cultural
baggage
that
will
be
with
us
for

(02:08):
a
while.
I
think
that
it's
necessary
to
draw
attention
to
the
bias
in
our
narratives,
and
I
am
telling
narratives,
and
I
warn
the
students
from
day
one,
first
thing
out
of
my
mouth
is
I
will
tell
you
stories.
They
will
sound
plausible
because
they're
based
on
facts,
but
they

(02:28):
are
still
stories.
And
I'm
choosing
the
facts
to
fit
my
stories.
And
we
have
to
understand
that
the
male
female
dynamic,
this
binary
is
a
narrative
and
it
is
not
necessary.
It
is
something
that
is
part
of
our
long
term
narrative.
And
we
have
to
realize
that
this
is
a
form
of
bias.
And
so
I
try
to
approach
it
that

(02:48):
way.
And
so
I
talk
about
things
like,
oh,
until
2017,
we
thought
that
women
had
zero
percentage
of
hunting
in
hunter
gatherer
societies,
and
now
we're
looking
back
at
the
same
papers
and
realizing
that
we
just
didn't
call
what
women
did
hunting. 578 00:03:03,894 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
I
just
I
guess
what
I
was
getting
at
was,
was
in
your
mid-fifties,
you
say,
you
know,
a
man

(03:08):
and
a
father
and
a
mother
having
a
baby
and
then
you're
like,
oh,
but
like,
I
understand
that
not
every
family
is
like
that.
So
I
just,
you
know,
and
you
have
to
backtrack
that.
Yeah.
I'm
wondering
how
the
students
respond
to
you
rather
than
coming
out
with
a
non
gendered
sentence
that
you
don't
have
to
then
backtrack
on.
I'm
just
wondering

(03:28):
what
the
response
to
that
was.
You're
saying
they
appreciate
they
appreciated
who
you
are.
Yeah.
The
fact
that
you're
acknowledging
that. 686 00:03:34,704 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
Well,
it's
more
than
that
because
the
narratives
I
tell
tend
to
reinforce
cultural
stereotypes.
And
so
I
really
don't
want
to
reinforce
the
male
getting
the
resources
and
bringing
them
back
to
the
female

(03:48):
doing
so. 724 00:03:49,374 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
You're
saying
you
don't
you're
not
the
purpose
of
them.
The
purpose
of
your
narrative
is
not
to
reinforce
the
stereotype
in
some
other
purpose,
but
it
sounds
like
it's
exactly
so. 757 00:03:58,524 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
I
keep
reminding
the
students
that
there
is
this
problem
and
it's
it's
wider
than
that.
So
it's
exactly
what
you're
talking
about.
The
very
class
oriented
story
I
just
told

(04:09):
where
it's
all
about
getting
your
kids
into
college.
That
doesn't
apply
to
everyone
all
the
time.
It
definitely
applies
to
my
students
and
they
they
are
nodding.
But
I
but
I
remind
them
that
the
world
is
not
like
that
for
everyone.
And,
you
know,
many
of
them
are
from
India.
About
a
third
of
my
class
is
from
India.
Wow.
And

(04:29):
so
they
are
very
aware
that
there
are
people
who
are
having
large
families
and
those
families
are
not
going
to
college
and
they
are
still
farmers. 879 00:04:38,244 --> 00:00:00,-01 Eric:
And
so
everything
you're
saying
is
wrong. 887 00:04:41,304 --> 00:00:00,-01 Dr. Josh Stout:
Yeah,
exactly.
So,
so
so
I
have
to
I
have
to
say,
look,
these
are
narratives
that
are
for
for
a
particular
time
and
place,
and
they're
they're
there

(04:49):
because
of
my
particular
background
and
where
we're
coming
from.
But
that
they
should
be
questioning
these
narratives
and
that
these
narratives
do
tend
to
reinforce
certain
biases.
So
anyway,
we
can
talk
about
that
as
our
whole
thing,
but
not
today.
All
right.