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Battles between Somebodies and Nobodies: Combat Abuse of Rank at Work and at Home
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Item Description...
Product Description
Every time we interact with another person, whether we realize it or not, we must deal with issues of power that takes place within a shared hierarchy. Because there are those who misuse their rank, we can find ourselves in disputes that ruin individuals, families, workplaces, and communities. In Battles between Somebodies and Nobodies, Dr. Julie Ann Wambach offers insights about kinds of hierarchies, how we create Somebodies and Nobodies, and the nature of those rank abusers who produce havoc in our lives. She maintains that battles lead to more battles, wherein everyone loses. With information and planning, readers can resolve conflicts in more creative fashions. This self help book describes how abuse of rank strikes in many parts of our life. While the book includes some theory, it is basically a how-to for anyone who wants out of the rank abuse cycle. The serious topic of rank abuse is presented in a friendly conversational style punctuated with 35 whimsical drawings. With the help of a Rank Conflict Inventory, numerous real life examples, step-by-step strategies, chapter exercises, and 20 rankist types, Battles is for a diverse audience.
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Item Specifications...
Pages 196
Dimensions: Length: 8.3" Width: 5.4" Height: 0.6"
Weight: 0.45 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Oct 1, 2008
ISBN 0981481809
EAN 9780981481807
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Availability 0 units.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Reductionist and jargony text I found hard to get through Jul 22, 2009 |
Henry David Thoreau famously warned us to "beware of all enterprises that require new clothes," and a good corollary to that might be "beware all books on interpersonal conflict that require learning a new language." For "Battles Between Somebodies and Nobodies" relies on a fairly specialized vocabulary, not only of words you thought you knew like "somebody" and "nobody," but also "rankism," "right-rank," "dog-kickers," "gatekeepers," and more. I quickly came across some other speed bumps when starting to read this, like the author's statement that she started writing this book primarily because she was so impressed with a similar one by Robert W. Fuller, or the egregious rendering (twice!) of writer Alain de Botton's name as "Alian DeButton." But really, it was the jargon, and the reductionist thinking it leads to, that made this book difficult for me to finish.
Fuller's insight, as presented and expanded-upon by Julie Ann Wambach, is that "all abuse is based on misuse of position" (p. xxii). This is codified as "rankism" -- "promotion of oneself and one's interests while bringing harm to a person or community" (p. 18). Viewed that way, just about anything bad in human history can be invoked as an example of "rankism," and sure enough, among the examples Dr. Wambach gives us are the American Civil War and the September 11 attacks (p. 23), the Russian Revolution ("Why did the Russian people revolt? Because the Tsar was ruthless and unfair" [p. 32]), and the second world war ("Hitler: Nobody turned Somebody Rankist" [p. 58]). Sure puts your resentment about having to work on Saturdays into perspective, doesn't it? Dr. Wambaugh warns us to reject labels, saying "If we think rankists are simply evil, we are not inclined to bridge the chasm between perpetrator and target. It is more productive for us to recognize rankist behavior as neurotic, as maladaptive. Rankists are trying to safeguard their own self-esteem ... They want a system that protects them as they figure out the future" (p. 61). Not to be flip, but this must be what happens when you analyze human interactions through the lens of the dynamics of a troop of baboons or a pack of wolves. I'm bold to suggest that there was more to world war two than "Hitler had self-esteem issues," and that there is more involved in most human interactions than the constant jockeying for status and position.
I know that this review is out of step with the others posted here at the time of my writing, and I don't begrudge others who have found something useful in Dr. Wambach's work. In my reading, though, "Battles Between Somebodies and Nobodies" suffers from being simultaneously too broadly and imprecisely defined, and too narrowly focused, for me really to be able to integrate it with my own life and personal relationships.
(Finally, I should note too that Dr. Wambach's definition of "anarchy" is odd too. At one point, she writes of "the anarchist's dream of a society where everyone is equal in everything," pointing out "we do not ask a composer of symphonies to fix our roof or a farmer to remove an appendix" [p. 29]. But which "anarchists" have called for absolute equality of skills? A few pages later, she says "anarchists espouse decisions by consensus" [p. 31]. This too came as a surprise. "Anarchy" simply means "no ruler" [an + archos]. Understanding the proper and improper uses of authority, as a right understanding of "anarchy" can lead to, actually seems like a pretty good way to start unraveling the conflicts between "somebodies" and "nobodies" Dr. Wambach rightly decries.) | | |  | An Important Book For Everyone Feb 19, 2009 |
I'm very aware of social hierarchy in animals. My husband and I have been horse breeders for twenty years. We know exactly what happens when you put two dominant animals in the same pasture--mayhem.
Animals seem to be more honest than humans in expressing rank-related aggression. As I started to read this book, images from my professional and academic life kept coming to me. I recall witnessing so many interactions that were ostensibly related to work or some intellectual problem--except that they weren't. These were power plays where one individual tromped all over another.
I didn't have the vocabulary to label what was happening in those earlier
situations. All I knew was that something rotten was going down.
Dr. Wambach's book gives everyone the vocabulary and awareness to know exactly what's happening in those "stinky" situations. What is happening is rank abuse, where one person uses his or her place in the social hierarchy to perpetrate others. Wambach provides a complete anatomy of rank abuse, showing how it arises and its many forms.
I won't attempt more detail, except to say that I recognized people I knew, and myself, in the line-up. The first step in controlling something is to be able to see and name it. If you read this book, you'll have the tools you need to see the roots of rank abuse in your life and begin to take control.
The book flows smoothly from description of how hierarchies are created, how misuse of rank turns human beings into Somebodies and Nobodies, into detailed examination of types of rank abusers and what motivates them. Each chapter has a summary and exercises to assist readers in mastering rank related issues.
The book is clearly written, accessible reading, and very well researched. The examples given illustrate points with events in our contemporary culture. She also has a knack for lifting the essence of what various psychological theorists and intellectuals have said about rank and human development. She quotes Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Margaret Mead, Rollo May, Karen Horney, Alfred Adler and more to very good effect. This is a book packed with information and resources. It's really a starting point. The book's footnotes will provide guidance and additional detail for years of further study.
Dr. Wambach's goal is nothing less than reforming our culture. One thing she said moved me to the core. I tried to find the passage to quote here and failed, but I'll tell you what struck me.
I'm an author, a scribbler. I'm intensely interested in my books finding a wide audience and opening a dialogue with my readers. I wouldn't mind following in Elizabeth Gilbert or Stephenie Meyer's footsteps, either. Sometimes my desire for sales and success blinds me and results in personal anguish, not to mention negatively impacting my family.
Wambach hit the root of this trap dead on. She said something like, "In our
society, we're obsessed with winning big contests--the Academy Award, Pulitzer Prize, enormous prizes that only a very few will ever attain. We forget about entering contests that we can win, and engaging ourselves in places where it's possible to succeed. Why not try those?"
This was a shock to me. Why aim at goals that will almost certainly result in failure? Why not shoot for targets that may be a stretch, but which are within reach of ordinary (or extraordinary) mortals?
That insight was worth the price of the book, but this book offers more.
Why should we be interested in Right Rank--what Wambach and others call the
practice of respecting everyone and treating all with dignity? I think it's an inherent human goal, the goal of spiritual practice and political activists.
It's hard to achieve: We live in a society bathed in rank abuse. From the
snobbery of the popular girls in sixth grade to "country club" Antisemitism to gay bashing and racism, rank abuse permeates our lives.
Why should we strive for Right Rank? Because rank abuse feels rotten. Worse than that, rank abuse can be deadly. The human tendencies that produced the Nazis and left Matthew Shepard tied to fence and beaten to death because he was gay ARE rank abuse. This is serious business.
| | |  | How to recognize and combat "rankism", the abuse of position within a hierarchy Feb 6, 2009 |
Other than the introduction of the term "rankism", the abuse of position within a hierarchy, there is very little in this book that has not been covered elsewhere. Like it or not hierarchies are a fundamental component of human existence, their presence in flocks and herds of animals indicates that there may be a biological basis for them. Therefore, the issue is not that they exist but that they are misused. A person that misuses a rank distinction is called a Somebody Rankist.
Wambach does a good job in describing the fundamental categories of such misuse, for example some of the categories and their descriptions are:
*) Retaliator, who slams back in the same way in which he or she was assaulted by a Somebody Rankist.
*) Dog-Kicker, who strikes at someone more vulnerable rather than at the original Somebody Rankist.
*) Flatterer, who compliments Somebody Rankists in order to keep in good stead.
I enjoyed reading this book because I recognized many of the people that I have worked for and with and unfortunately also recognized some of my occasional inappropriate behaviors. The descriptions were accurate and the explanations of rank and its' privilege have been a part of the human social organism since the act of evolution first created a creature that could be called human. Tactics that the Nobody can use to fight back against the Somebody Rankist are given although they are often built on somewhat disingenuous flanking attacks rather than a direct confrontation of the principals.
Although there is very little new in this book, it is presented in some novel ways and it contains a message that cannot be repeated often enough. Every serious study that I have ever seen indicates that workers achieve the highest possible productivity when their position, problems and advancement are a point of interest to their supervisors. That cannot be done in a Rankist environment, so anything that helps to reduce this poison is to be welcomed.
| | | | Abuse of Power is Everywhere Jan 30, 2009 |
Abuse of rank exists in most areas of our lives and I think it's safe to say that every one of us has experienced this type of abuse at some point and likely felt helpless to stop it. Managers and supervisors at places of employment are the primary culprits, but abuse of rank can also exist on the home front or in organizations. This tendency to abuse one's hierarchical rank is the subject of this book and it's the type of book in which most every reader will be able to relate in some way.
Authoritarian attitudes exist all around us and this book is quick to point out that hierarchies are nothing new and are not necessarily bad in theory. If you think about it, we experience hierarchy every day, whether at work, in school, or even in the home. We are all part of one or more hierarchies and these social mechanisms are generally good in that they help to organize and better ensure that decisions are made and tasks are executed efficiently. Not everyone can or should be in a leadership role and the first few chapters of this book are good at explaining the human tendency toward hierarchies and why they are beneficial to society as a whole.
The problem with some hierarchies is, of course, the tendency of some of the people in charge to abuse their privileges. The majority of hierarchies operate morally and ethically but they are many that do not and this book devotes most of its pages to the discussion of those who abuse their power. It could be an overbearing manager who pushes his employees to the limit and then takes credit for their hard work while also blaming his/her subordinates when things go wrong. It could be a dominant member of an organization who insists on doing things their way with no regard for the desires of others. Whomever the person, these individuals and others like them are abusing their rank and they usually see nothing wrong with their actions.
I like the chapters toward the end of this book because they describe the various types of rank abusers, complete with a name for each and some of the personality characteristics they possess. Readers will enjoy this part of the book immensely because they will read some of these descriptions and immediately think of someone who fits the bill. These rank abusers can be both direct and indirect, from the rank abuser who is verbally abusive, excitable, and often out of control to the rank abuser who is tries to combat the abuse of the another rankist through various means.
The ideal position for anyone at or near the top of a hierarchy is to practice what the author refers to as right rank. With right rank, the person in authority practices self- control, ethical behavior, fairness, etc., and uses good listening skills to help arrive at an agreed upon decision. The book even includes a few ideas on ways to make sure that not only you work toward right rank, but it also includes some suggestions for ways to confront the rank abuser and, hopefully, convince him or her that their behavior is unacceptable and needs to be changed.
Everyone experiences rank abuse at some point in their lives and many are, in fact, experiencing it right now at their place of employment, their school, their home, or in one of the organizations in which they serve. This book deals with a topic that everyone can relate to at some level and it includes some very good examples of the different types of rank abusers. Some of the chapters are a little too brief and do not succeed at getting their points across compared to other chapters. But the book is still a good one and it can help victims of abuse recognize the different personality traits of a rank abuser and then work to reduce or eliminate the abuse of rank for more harmonious working and personal relationships.
| | | | Should be mandatory reading... Jan 26, 2009 |
Should be mandatory reading...
As I read Battles Between Somebodies and Nobodies I remembered raising chickens. If a chicken seems a tad bit weak to the others they will start pecking at him and not stop until he dies. We humans are no better. If someone shows a weakness, we bully that person. Usually the bullies justify themselves by saying it was all in fun. Having been on the side of the bullied, I can tell you it is not fun.
Julie Ann Wamback, Ph.D. explains why we bully. She offers suggestions on how to recognize "rank abusers," how to identify their motives and a plan to stop rankism. I think this book should be mandatory reading for everyone but especially for school officials.
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