--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: This line of thinking became Mather’s…" description: "\"“This line of thinking became Mather’s everlasting justification of social hierarchy: the ambitious lowly resembled Satan; his kind of elites resembled..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/ibram-x-kendi-3080_social-hierarchy_this-line-of-thinking-became-mather-s-ev_829778.jpg" --- # This line of thinking became Mather’s everlasting… ![“This line of thinking became Mather’s everlasting justification of social hierarchy: the ambitious lowly resembled Satan; his kind of elites resembled God.” quote by Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/ibram-x-kendi-3080_social-hierarchy_this-line-of-thinking-became-mather-s-ev_829778.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/ibram-x-kendi-3080_social-hierarchy_this-line-of-thinking-became-mather-s-ev_829778.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/845/ibram-x-kendi-3080_social-hierarchy_this-line-of-thinking-became-mather-s-ev_829778.jpg) > ““This line of thinking became Mather’s everlasting justification of social hierarchy: the ambitious lowly resembled Satan; his kind of elites resembled God.”” [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote argues that racist hierarchies are justified by portraying the poor as evil and elites as divine, reinforcing oppression. **In simple terms:** Racism is defended by demeaning the poor and glorifying elites. Key Takeaway Challenge hierarchical narratives and recognize inherent dignity of all. Themes racism hierarchy justification power morality Mood critical reflective Type analytical political When to use this quote - education reform - policy analysis - community organizing - media critique Key Concepts social stratification moral framing elite mythos Questions to Reflect On - How do we dismantle moral narratives that uphold inequality? - What alternative stories can empower marginalized groups? A Different Perspective The claim may oversimplify complex historical motivations. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Elites Resembled](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elites-resembled-548333/) [Mather Everlasting](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mather-everlasting-548336/) [Resembled God](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resembled-god-548335/) [Resembled Satan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/resembled-satan-548334/) [Satan Kind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/satan-kind-548337/) [Social hierarchy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-hierarchy/) ## Related quotes > [The great thing about Satan is it's kind of like Hamlet. Everyone puts their own signature on it in a way, whether it's Al…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-pellegrino/the-great-thing-about-satan-is-it-s-kind-of-like-hamlet-everyone-puts/) [Mark Pellegrino](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-pellegrino/) > [“The irony was that the new communist state had created a social hierarchy more elaborate and stratified than anything seen in the time of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hyeonseo-lee/the-irony-was-that-the-new-communist-state-had-created-a-social/) [Hyeonseo Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hyeonseo-lee/) > [For Rembrandt, reality is role-playing… Everyone is portrayed in relation to a social hierarchy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-schjeldahl/for-rembrandt-reality-is-role-playing-everyone-is-portrayed-in/) [Peter Schjeldahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-schjeldahl/) > [“The psychologist Jonathan Haidt says many people who don’t consciously believe in karma still believe deep down in some version of it, calling it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mcraney/the-psychologist-jonathan-haidt-says-many-people-who-don-t/) [David McRaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mcraney/) > [Feminism is a belief that although women and men are inherently of equal worth, most societies privilege men as a group. As a result,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/estelle-freedman/feminism-is-a-belief-that-although-women-and-men-are-inherently-of/) [Estelle Freedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/estelle-freedman/) > [When such a perfect society will be created or if it will ever be created is a question as difficult to answer as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sorin-cerin/when-such-a-perfect-society-will-be-created-or-if-it-will-ever-be/) [Sorin Cerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sorin-cerin/) > [“Part of Wordsworth’s complaint was directed towards the smoke, congestion, poverty and ugliness of cities, but clean-air bills and slum clearance would not, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/part-of-wordsworth-s-complaint-was-directed-towards-the-smoke/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [Slackers might look like the left-behinds of society, but they are actually one step ahead, rejecting most of society and the social hierarchy before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-linklater/slackers-might-look-like-the-left-behinds-of-society-but-they-are/) [Richard Linklater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-linklater/) > [Noting that Huckleberry Finn was originally both valued and reviled because it shows the reader that the accepted moral code and social hierarchy is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-vaughan/noting-that-huckleberry-finn-was-originally-both-valued-and-reviled/) [Robert Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-vaughan/) > [“Radheya has always been a rebel against caste and the social hierarchy,' her mother-in-law said, after a brief pause. 'He has constantly been cruelly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kavita-kane/radheya-has-always-been-a-rebel-against-caste-and-the-social/) [Kavita Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kavita-kane/) > [“...every social class has its own pathology...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/every-social-class-has-its-own-pathology/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“If people could climb higher in the social hierarchy in proportion to their incompetence, I guarantee the world would not go round the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-barbery/if-people-could-climb-higher-in-the-social-hierarchy-in-proportion-to/) [Muriel Barbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-barbery/) > [I haven't figured out how to do anything yet besides recording music - I don't even entirely know how to do that. My favorite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-earl-beal/i-haven-t-figured-out-how-to-do-anything-yet-besides-recording-music/) [Willis Earl Beal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-earl-beal/) > [When I went to prom in the early 1990s, I seesawed between my wish to get asked by the right guy and ride in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-simmons/when-i-went-to-prom-in-the-early-1990s-i-seesawed-between-my-wish-to/) [Rachel Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-simmons/) > [In the local state school I attended in England, I saw and heard far more awareness of where a person stood in the social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/in-the-local-state-school-i-attended-in-england-i-saw-and-heard-far/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) ## More by Ibram X. Kendi > [“When men oppress their fellowmen, the oppressor ever finds, in the character of the oppressed, a full justification for his oppression.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/when-men-oppress-their-fellowmen-the-oppressor-ever-finds-in-the/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“assimilationists constantly encourage Black adoption of White cultural traits and/or physical ideals.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/assimilationists-constantly-encourage-black-adoption-of-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Enlightenment ideas gave legitimacy to this long-held racist “partiality,” the connection between lightness and Whiteness and reason, on the one hand, and between darkness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/enlightenment-ideas-gave-legitimacy-to-this-long-held-racist/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Hate and ignorance have not driven the history of racist ideas in America. Racist policies have driven the history of racist ideas in America.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/hate-and-ignorance-have-not-driven-the-history-of-racist-ideas-in/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“From the beginning, it has been a three-sided battle, a battle of antiracist ideas being pitted against two kinds of racist ideas at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/from-the-beginning-it-has-been-a-three-sided-battle-a-battle-of/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“newspaper reports of rape constructed white defendants as individual offenders and black defendants as representative of the failings of their racial group,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/newspaper-reports-of-rape-constructed-white-defendants-as-individual/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Racist intentions—not policies—became covert after the 1960s.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/racist-intentions-not-policies-became-covert-after-the-1960s/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Donald Trump’s economic policies are geared toward enriching White male power—but at the expense of most of his White male followers, along with the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/donald-trump-s-economic-policies-are-geared-toward-enriching-white/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“individualizing White negativity and generalizing Black negativity.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/individualizing-white-negativity-and-generalizing-black-negativity/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Racially discriminatory policies have usually sprung from economic, political, and cultural self-interests, self-interests that are constantly changing. Politicians seeking higher office have primarily created…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/racially-discriminatory-policies-have-usually-sprung-from-economic/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“The vicious housing cycle had already begun. Racist policies harmed Black neighborhoods, generating racist ideas that caused people not to want to live next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/the-vicious-housing-cycle-had-already-begun-racist-policies-harmed/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“For Jefferson, power came before freedom. Indeed, power creates freedom, not the other way around—as the powerless are taught.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/for-jefferson-power-came-before-freedom-indeed-power-creates-freedom/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“To justify Black enslavement, Barbados planters actually “preferred” the polygenesis theory over the curse theory of Ham,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/to-justify-black-enslavement-barbados-planters-actually-preferred-the/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“With this law in place, White enslavers could now reap financial reward from relations “upon a negro woman.” But they wanted to prevent the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/with-this-law-in-place-white-enslavers-could-now-reap-financial/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) > [“Our education has filled us with strong prejudices against them,” Hopkins professed, “and led us to consider them, not as our brethren, or in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ibram-x-kendi/our-education-has-filled-us-with-strong-prejudices-against-them/) [Ibram X. Kendi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) [Explore all 140 Ibram X. Kendi quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ibram-x-kendi/) ## More Social hierarchy quotes > [In the local state school I attended in England, I saw and heard far more awareness of where a person stood in the social…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alissa-quart/in-the-local-state-school-i-attended-in-england-i-saw-and-heard-far/) [Alissa Quart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alissa-quart/) > [When I went to prom in the early 1990s, I seesawed between my wish to get asked by the right guy and ride in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-simmons/when-i-went-to-prom-in-the-early-1990s-i-seesawed-between-my-wish-to/) [Rachel Simmons](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-simmons/) > [I haven't figured out how to do anything yet besides recording music - I don't even entirely know how to do that. My favorite…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willis-earl-beal/i-haven-t-figured-out-how-to-do-anything-yet-besides-recording-music/) [Willis Earl Beal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willis-earl-beal/) > [“If people could climb higher in the social hierarchy in proportion to their incompetence, I guarantee the world would not go round the way…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muriel-barbery/if-people-could-climb-higher-in-the-social-hierarchy-in-proportion-to/) [Muriel Barbery](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muriel-barbery/) > [“...every social class has its own pathology...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/every-social-class-has-its-own-pathology/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) > [“Radheya has always been a rebel against caste and the social hierarchy,' her mother-in-law said, after a brief pause. 'He has constantly been cruelly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kavita-kane/radheya-has-always-been-a-rebel-against-caste-and-the-social/) [Kavita Kane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kavita-kane/) > [Noting that Huckleberry Finn was originally both valued and reviled because it shows the reader that the accepted moral code and social hierarchy is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-vaughan/noting-that-huckleberry-finn-was-originally-both-valued-and-reviled/) [Robert Vaughan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-vaughan/) > [Slackers might look like the left-behinds of society, but they are actually one step ahead, rejecting most of society and the social hierarchy before…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-linklater/slackers-might-look-like-the-left-behinds-of-society-but-they-are/) [Richard Linklater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-linklater/) > [“Part of Wordsworth’s complaint was directed towards the smoke, congestion, poverty and ugliness of cities, but clean-air bills and slum clearance would not, by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/part-of-wordsworth-s-complaint-was-directed-towards-the-smoke/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [When such a perfect society will be created or if it will ever be created is a question as difficult to answer as if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sorin-cerin/when-such-a-perfect-society-will-be-created-or-if-it-will-ever-be/) [Sorin Cerin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sorin-cerin/) > [Feminism is a belief that although women and men are inherently of equal worth, most societies privilege men as a group. As a result,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/estelle-freedman/feminism-is-a-belief-that-although-women-and-men-are-inherently-of/) [Estelle Freedman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/estelle-freedman/) > [“The psychologist Jonathan Haidt says many people who don’t consciously believe in karma still believe deep down in some version of it, calling it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mcraney/the-psychologist-jonathan-haidt-says-many-people-who-don-t/) [David McRaney](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mcraney/) > [For Rembrandt, reality is role-playing… Everyone is portrayed in relation to a social hierarchy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-schjeldahl/for-rembrandt-reality-is-role-playing-everyone-is-portrayed-in/) [Peter Schjeldahl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-schjeldahl/) > [“The irony was that the new communist state had created a social hierarchy more elaborate and stratified than anything seen in the time of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hyeonseo-lee/the-irony-was-that-the-new-communist-state-had-created-a-social/) [Hyeonseo Lee](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hyeonseo-lee/) > [I've always been most interested in the politics of everyday life: your relation to whatever you're doing, or what your ambitions are, where you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-linklater/i-ve-always-been-most-interested-in-the-politics-of-everyday-life/) [Richard Linklater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-linklater/) [Browse all 41 Social hierarchy quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/social-hierarchy/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“This line of thinking became Mather’s everlasting justification of social hierarchy: the ambitious lowly resembled Satan; his kind of elites resembled God.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ibram X. 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