ABSTRACT
The concept of erotic ranking serves as a bridge between theories of courtship and marriage and several well-known aspects of theoretical sociology, example, theories of secret societies, visibility, stratification, mobility, ascription, achievement motivation, and anomie. Sexual morality is seen as a special case of the social norms governing interaction in hierarchies and secret societies. The secrecy of the erotic hierarchy may be reinforced by the puritan culture in which it is encountered. A person's erotic ranking is the secretly kept probability that he can induce an emotional overcomeness among persons of the opposite sex. The dynamics of interaction in hierarchies are very much linked to the psychodynamics of the self-image. The most interesting insights into the conception of the erotic hierarchy come from its confrontation with the theory of anomie. The preservation of the secret nature of erotic ranks is further guaranteed if the participants are also involved in other activities that require privacy.
