Economically, the patriarchy maintains and reproduces itself through a vast series of overlapping latices which reinforce each other and beget more of their kind. Of course this is a pattern common to social formations of all kinds, though the way in which these patterns emerge and develop are particular to a given mode of social development.
At its emotional and social base, the patriarchy consists of an outpouring of grandiose generosity and prosperity, but this outpouring must necessarily come from the individual, the patriarch, which we'll see produces an effect that runs counter to the emotional commitment to prosperity, especially for those further down the hierarchy, which is established in relation to the patriarch and which maintains the patriarch's power in a given state of affairs.
The patriarch's developmental arc occurs under some previous patriarch, whose command of resources is mimicked as the standard for life attainment and satisfaction. In the beginning, the patriarch must gradually amass the resources required to mimic that previous ideal of benevolent abundance, doing so with a prideful covering up and hiding of all of the intersecting dependencies and obligations that are required for this gradual amassing.
Because as patriarchal rule gradually becomes the social standard of governance, everyone who styles themselves in the image of the patriarch is developing in the same direction, and so everyone is putting claims against each other and pulling on each other to amass their own share of abundant resources in their own direction, which tightens the web of obligations and pulls it in the direction of the most powerful and competent actors.
The hidden humiliations of debt and subordination only serve to fuel the feverish drive to amass the resources required for that sphere of abundance and magnanimity that should archetypically surround the patriarch. The brutalization and exploitation that is required to amass these resources are mere means which are more than justified, especially after the patriarch achieves his freedom from the cycles of exploitation and brutalization that he himself endured under others when he finally achieves escape velocity with the resources at his disposal.
This freedom and abundance of resources are then his to deliver to his family, friends, and loved ones, in return for reverence and worship. Here the very state of consciousness changes dramatically, as the children born under this regime of abundance of plenty experience the silver spoon in mouth, and command a vast reservoir of resources as a matter of course, by right of birth. A complacency sets in where there was once a fiery drive to conquer, which paves the way for future challengers emanating from the bottom, where they continue to be exploited and brutalized.
Doubtless, there are plenty on the bottom that are to remain that way; the pathway to the top is a narrow one, which though is constantly negotiated, pre-ordains victors of its own through ethnic, sexual, gender, and class-specific archetypes, as well as material conditions such as starting wealth, social resources, and presence of opportunity and movement.
This is a pattern which is not limited to monarchs, presidents, and CEOs, but which is reproduced further down the chain on every social threshold of activity imaginable.
