Reverence Towards Rank: How Adam Smith's Idea of Rank Impacts the Ostrom's Art of Association

This paper looks to Adam Smith’s analysis of an important behavioral quirk to further public choice research. Following Lin Ostrom’s advice to go beyond rationality, the goal is to illuminate how the behavioral quirk impacts political settings and institutional evolution. Under analysis will be Adam Smith’s emphasis upon the peculiar influence that rank plays in society. In political situations Smith sees the concept of rank as being important by helping to establish peace and order, but also as a threat to our ability to self-govern. Our ability to self-govern, our art of association, is entangled with political decisions via connections that are strongly influenced by our perceptions of rank. This paper looks back to Adam Smith to aid in the development of behavioral public choice by seeing his understanding of a certain reverence toward rank and how it impacts the Ostrom’s art of association.