MUMBAI, India, Aug. 24 -- Intellectual Property India has published a patent application (202641095686 A) filed by Christ University on August 07, 2026, for A System And Method For Analysing Hierarchy Invocation, Uptake, And Political Significance In Social Interaction.
Inventors include Sreelakshmi V S; and Reshma Jacob.
The application for the patent was published on August 21, 2026, under issue no. 34/2026.
Abstract: A structured analytical model for analysing hierarchy invocation, participant's uptake, and political significance in social interaction, the Hierarchy-Node Model, is developed to: first, systematically identify interactional moments in which socially meaningful hierarchies become relevant through evaluation; second to examine how participants cognitively, affectively, and behaviourally engage with such evaluations; and third to analyse the political significance of their responses. The Hierarchy- Node Model comprises two interconnected analytical procedures: the first identifies and classifies hierarchy invocation through explicit or implicit evaluative acts; and the second traces the participants' cognitive, affective, and behavioural uptake to determine whether the interaction reproduces, negotiates, or contests the invoked hierarchy. The model differentiates between hierarchy as a broader social structure and hierarchy as an interactional event, and also acknowledges that social hierarchies become meaningful only when they are invoked through evaluation within a particular interaction. In this way, it does not treat political significance as a binary outcome, but as a continuum where reproduction, negotiation, and contestation could coexist within the same interaction. To develop the Hierarchy-Node Model, the researchers draw primarily on insights from affect studies and cultural studies. This interdisciplinary framework facilitates a systematic identification of hierarchy invocation and participants' uptake, along with a context-based analysis of how interactions contribute to the reproduction, negotiation, or contestation of various social hierarchies. As a result, the Hierarchy- Node Model provides the researchers with a comprehensive and adaptable analytical framework for examining social hierarchies and their political significance in literary texts, films, and everyday social interactions.
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