It is the social principle that people who have authority have the ability to order or make something doable under their influence. Like the people having higher ranks will order people or junior rank because they have an influence. This is no just the case in ranks but also in other fields of life e.g. a professor who have higher level of knowledge will have authority over a student or a lecturer because he is more knowledgeable in that domain.
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Further Reading/ References
https://collegeinfogeek.com/principles-of-influence/