Rank

TRank has two uses: one as a sociological term and the other as a statistical term. Sociologically&sbquo it represents a relative position in a group or organization&sbquo and although its Japanese translation is ikai (orders) the word has already been forgotten and the term rank is used as is. It now suggests the power relationships within the group or organization and the order of social resource allocation.
The relationship of social rank and order&sbquo in particular&sbquo with spirituality has been emphasized&sbquo and factorizing this relationship according to such abilities as the language ability&sbquo mathematical ability and rationality has led to a way of thinking that says we should consider the complexity of spirituality as a simple and correlative matrix. The labeling theory that labels people who deviate from this order is also considered as an attempt to re-verify the social structure by analyzing the relationships between spirituality and ikai&sbquo rank&sbquo class&sbquo and order.
In Japan&sbquo as demonstrated by the phrase kakusa shakai (divided society)&sbquo the social order&sbquo or "hierarchical society"&sbquo has progressed rapidly and the social distribution of resources and wealth has become evident through determination of rank. Also in the structure of production and consumption&sbquo differentiation by rank and hierarchy in social strata is taking place.
In design too&sbquo there is a tendency to rank and classify the very designed forms themselves through this hierarchy. I firmly believe formation of such hierarchical and class-differentiating intentions in design should be eliminated. This is because I'm convinced that modern design has evolved through criticisms against such movements as the Russian avant-garde that expressed art-forms in a relative manner to power and dignity as social statuses&sbquo and an idealism that represents the essence of design has been established as a result. Today&sbquo branding by corporations has become a trendy phenomenon&sbquo and a rank-based differentiation clearly exists in the background of its expression. Design should be a method to distinguish ranks rather than to differentiate by ranks.

Copyright © 2009 Kazuo KAWASAKI All rights reserved.