  We analyze thermodynamic behavior of general $n$-component mean-field spin
glass models in order to identify origin of the hierarchical structure of the
order parameters from the replica-symmetry breaking solution. We derive a
configurationally dependent free energy with local magnetizations and averaged
local susceptibilities as order parameters. On an example of the replicated
Ising spin glass we demonstrate that the hierarchy of order parameters in
mean-field models results from the structure of inter-replica susceptibilities.
These susceptibilities serve for lifting the degeneracy due to the existence of
many metastable states and for recovering thermodynamic homogeneity of the free
energy.
