This episode delves into one of the most powerful contributions of the "Cognosystemic Theory of Human Psychosocial Relational Construction" (TCCR): narrative hierarchy. In this framework, narratives are not just floating stories—they are structured systems, organized in levels that determine their ability to influence, guide, and shape the psychosocial world. Understanding this symbolic stratification enables critical intervention in the struggles over meaning that define our personal, institutional, and cultural realities.
What Is a Narrative Hierarchy?
The TCCR defines narrative hierarchy as the structural and functional stratification of narrative systems, based on their power to organize meaning, influence behavior, and legitimize social structures. Narratives may reinforce, challenge, resist, or transform the existing order. Their position is not fixed—it shifts based on factors like emotional resonance, memetic circulation, adoption by key actors, and cultural reach.
Types of Narratives According to Their Position in the Hierarchy
The episode outlines seven types of narratives, ranked from least to most influential:
1. Subjugated narratives: silenced, marginalized, or excluded voices.
2. Resigned narratives: passively accept symbolic domination.
3. Adaptive narratives: adjust to the existing order without questioning it.
4. Resilient narratives: resist through memory, identity, and culture.
5. Challenging narratives: openly confront hegemonic narratives.
6. Emerging dominant narratives: rising toward symbolic centrality.
7. Hegemonic narratives: structure the Cognosystem with broad consensus and institutional power.
Dimensions of Narrative Power
The episode explores four key dimensions for assessing the strength of a narrative:
- Structuring: shapes identities, roles, and practices.
- Legitimizing: naturalizes power relations.
- Transformative: opens symbolic possibilities for change.
- Resistant: opposes hegemonic impositions from a subaltern position.
Three Phases of Narrative Evolution
Narratives may also be understood through three developmental phases:
- Beta phase: consolidation.
- Alpha phase: legitimacy crisis.
- Delta phase: displacement or mutation.
Hierarchical Shifts: How Narratives Move
Narratives can shift their hierarchical position through:
- Upward movement: when previously marginalized narratives gain influence (e.g., feminism, LGBTQ+ rights).
- Downward movement: when dominant narratives lose legitimacy (e.g., radical meritocracy).
- Horizontal movement: when competing narratives interact on the same level (e.g., green development vs. degrowth).
These movements are triggered by contextual crises, symbolic leadership, emotional resonance, or feedback across Cognosystemic levels.
Narrative Frictions and Meaning Struggles
The episode explores how conflicts between narratives become key sources of transformation.
Example: the tension between industrial growth and ecological transition.
These frictions can generate:
- Discursive crises.
- Symbolic reformulations.
- Innovative narrative syntheses that redefine collective meaning.
Applications for Social Work
From the TCCR perspective, analyzing narrative hierarchies allows practitioners to:
- Identify naturalized oppressive discourses.
- Make visible excluded, potentially emancipatory narratives.
- Design interventions that promote just symbolic shifts.
- Actively engage in meaning-making struggles guided by a relational and transformative ethics.
The episode closes with a key affirmation: Narrative hierarchy reveals the symbolic struggles of the social world.
Intervening in them—as the TCCR proposes—is not only possible, but necessary for a critical, ethical, and socially committed practice.
Listen and transform how you read power, culture, and change through the lens of narratives.