Amy Gahran, “Stepping Off the Relationship Escalator: Uncommon Love and Life”

Descriptive and prescriptive hierarchy

In polyamory, some people like to distinguish between descriptive hierarchy (which reflects how people’s existing responsibilities steer their decisions in intimate relationships) vs. prescriptive hierarchy (which is usually intended to ensure that certain relationships retain top ranking perpetually).
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Some people will only agree to participate in hierarchy which is descriptive in nature.