Question

What is most clearly the central idea of the paragraph? “Hierarchies- the ranking of human beings from highest to lowest- have always provoked irrational attitudes in people. Every entry- level employee knows that her company’s management ranks are full of under serving buffoons who could never cut it among the working classes. As soon as that employee becomes a manager, however, she suddenly feels that her subordinates are inferior simpletons.”

Answer 1

The central idea of the paragraph is that hierarchies have always provoked irrational attitudes in people. One can clearly see this, following the paragraph, when people on the lower ranks of a hierarchy, like entry-level employees, consider their superiors to be nothing more than buffoons. The same happens with those very persons on the higher ranks of a hierarchy, like administrators who, even though they too may have once been entry-level employees, now that they find themselves “above” others, consider their inferiors to be nothing more than simpletons. This vicious circle is precisely what´s referenced as “irrational attitudes”: no matter the point of view, whether it be that of the lower or the higher ranks, there is no merit to be granted to anybody else.