Rankism is "abusive, discriminatory, or exploitative behavior towards people because of their rank in a particular hierarchy". Rank-based abuse underlies many other phenomena such as bullying, racism, sexism, and homophobia. The term "rankism" was coined by physicist, educator, and citizen diplomat Robert W. Fuller.

Rankism can take many forms, including

Rankism can occur in any social hierarchy, such as governments, corporations, families, non-profit organizations, and universities;.

The term rankism first appeared in print in the Oberlin Alumni Magazine for fall of 1997. It later appeared in a book called Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank, written by Fuller and published in 2003.

The first use of the term in a management journal occurred in 2001 in a Leader to Leader Institute article. The piece questioned the abuse of rank in work hierarchies. The idea of rankism has since been widely covered in the media, including The New York Times, NPR, C-SPAN, The Boston Globe, the BBC, Voice of America, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Robert Welch (born May 14, 1951) is a professional wrestler and manager better known by his ring names Robert Fuller and Col. Robert Parker. Robert and his brother Ron co-owned Continental Championship Wrestling for a time.

Fuller started wrestling in 1970 in the Alabama and Tennessee regions. He often teamed with his cousin Jimmy Golden and they won many tag team titles.

In the 1980s, he took his brother Ron's idea and made a stable called The Stud Stable. Among the members in the independent versions of this stable were Golden, Sid Vicious, Cactus Jack,Dutch Mantel, Gary Young, and Brian Lee.

He spent some time in the American Wrestling Association with Golden in 1988, and they feuded with The Rock 'n' Roll Express (Ricky Morton and Robert Gibson). He also wrestled in the Texas area where he teamed with Jeff Jarrett.